Ilham Aliyev visited the Heydar Aliyev Baku Deepwater Jackets Factory (BDJF), for an official jacket launch ceremony. Jacket installation by BP in the Caspian sea will begin in early 2023.

The newly built jacket is destined for the Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG) field, specifically, the Azeri Central East (ACE) platform. It was fully built in Azerbaijan by BOS Shelf, a process which involved over 2,000 individuals. The jacket weighs 16,000 tonnes and measures 153 metres in height. It also contains three production risers, including one water injection, one oil export, and one gas export.

At the BDJF quayside, the jacket was loaded onto an STB-01 transportation and launch barge, operated by Caspian Marine Services (CMS). In preparation for this operation, the barge underwent the required modifications and a renewal of her class certification. The jacket will be installed at the ACE site, between the existing Central Azeri and East Azeri platforms in a water depth of approximately 140 metres.

$6 billion USD project

The platform will be remotely controlled from the Sangachal terminal, on the coast of the Caspian Sea 45 kilometres south of Baku, and includes innovative system automation. The $6 billion ACE project is the next step in BP’s development of the giant ACG field, for which construction activities began in the summer of 2019. As of mid-December, 80% of the work scope has been completed, according to BP. The new platform is designed to process up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day, while the project is expected to produce up to 300 million barrels over its lifetime.

Gary Jones, BP’s regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Türkiye, said: “The ACE project represents the start of the ACG’s renewed contract in action. We are very pleased to have completed the first massive piece of the project – the ACE platform jacket, safely and on schedule. This is a significant step towards the first ACE oil achievement. We will now focus on the other parts of the project – topside facilities, subsea construction and offshore installation as we move towards completion of the entire project next year. This will allow us to start drilling the first well for the commencement of ACE production.”