bp Commences Oil Production at Azeri Central East Offshore Platform

Off the shores of Azerbaijan as part of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) project, bp began the start-up of oil production at the ACE platform in the Caspian Sea. The ACE offshore platform and associated facilities are designed to process up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), with the fully operational project slated to produce up to 300 million barrels of oil over its lifetime. ACE is the seventh oil production platform in the ACG field and, with production starting in 1997, the field has produced over 4.3 billion barrels of oil.

“This successful start-up is testament to the ongoing close collaboration between bp, SOCAR and the Government of Azerbaijan, together with the support of our partners. First oil from ACE – in the year of the thirtieth anniversary of the agreement to develop ACG – marks the beginning of this field’s next development phase,” said Gary Jones, bp’s Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. “This is the ninth production platform that we have built, installed, and are operating offshore Azerbaijan. ACE really stands out with its engineering creativity, advanced digital technology, and automation. We are proud to have delivered what we believe is the ‘platform of the future’.”

Extracted oil will be transported through processing facilities on the platform and then exported approximately 130 km to the onshore Sangachai terminal. The export process will use a new in-field pipeline connected to an existing 30-inch subsea export line. ACE’s initial oil volumes come from the first well that was initiated at the end of 2023. Through 2024, ACE production is expected to increase to around 24,000 bpd as two additional wells are drilled and brought online.

The ACE platform’s engineering automates labor-intensive processes for safer and more efficient operations. It also has a fully automated drilling rig that helps to lower operational emissions alongside non-drilling automated processes.

bp announced an additional oil production start-up in the first half of 2023 at the Argos offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico. With a gross production capacity of up to 140,000 barrels of oil per day, Argos is bp's fifth platform in the region and the first new bp-operated facility since 2008. The platform is expected to increase bp's gross production capacity in the Gulf of Mexico by approximately 20%, with production gradually ramping up through 2023.

"The start-up of Argos is a fantastic achievement that helps deliver our integrated energy strategy – investing in today's energy system and, at the same time, investing in the energy transition,” said former bp CEO Bernard Looney. “As bp's most digital facility worldwide, applying our latest technologies, Argos will strengthen our key position in the Gulf of Mexico for years to come."

The platform, located in 4,500 feet of water about 190 miles south of New Orleans, will support 250 permanent jobs. Argos is bp's most digitally advanced platform in the Gulf of Mexico, featuring the company's LoSal Enhanced Oil Recovery and Dynamic Digital Twin technologies. The platform has a waterflood injection capacity of over 140,000 barrels of low-salinity water per day, which helps increase oil recovery from the Mad Dog field.