By the end of 2023, the Azeri Central East (ACE) project at Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG) reached a 97% progress milestone, Report informs, citing bp-Azerbaijan.
All other start-up activities and preparations required for the delivery of ACE first oil in early 2024 are progressing on schedule.
In 2023, the Azeri Central East (ACE) platform jacket sailed away from the Heydar Aliyev Baku Deepwater Jackets Factory, where it was built, to its permanent location at the ACG field and was installed in a water depth of 137 metres. The jacket was fully commissioned and tested onshore prior to its sail away on March 16.
On April 4, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, visited the ACE platform topsides unit fabrication yard in Bibi-Heybat and toured the almost completed topsides before it had sailed away to its permanent location.
Most of the key topsides commissioning and testing activities planned to be performed onshore were successfully completed during the first half of the year. For instance, for the first time, the blowdown safety testing was performed onshore using nitrogen. This eliminated the need for testing the system on hydrocarbons during the offshore start-up.
Following these completions and testing activities, on August 7, the topside unit sailed away from the Bayil fabrication yard, where it was built, to the ACG field. The transportation, float-over, and installation activities had been carefully planned and were completed in around two days.
Offshore, the project then progressed with hook-up activities and achieved offshore habitation, enabling the ramp-up of personnel on board the platform. This allowed the delivery of several key milestones during the fourth quarter, culminating in the ACE platform being declared hydrocarbon-live in December.
In parallel, the project continued with activities towards rig readiness, completing the integrated acceptance testing without any major findings and successfully driving four conductors to full depth, followed by the handover of final drilling systems.
On December 4, the first production well was spudded from the ACE platform.