Gordon Birrell: BP achieves highest efficiency indicators in Azerbaijan

BP has achieved the highest performance indicators in its portfolio in Azerbaijan after the launch of the new Azeri Central East (ACE) platform in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of fields, BP Executive Vice President for Production and Operations Gordon Birrell said in an interview with Platts, Report informs.

"In June, BP signed several agreements, including approval for a new gas compression project at Shah Deniz, as well as joining the Karabagh oil project in the Caspian -- a field expected on stream in 2029," he noted.

According to the forecast by Fitch Ratings, peak production at the Karabakh offshore oil field will be 7.5 million barrels per day, and annual production at the peak will exceed 2.7 billion barrels.

BP is improving its upstream performance with progress in locations from Azerbaijan to the US and Trinidad thanks to improvements in seismic and other technology, its upstream vice president Gordon Birrell said in an interview.

Speaking the same week as Shell denied it was considering buying BP, Birrell said the company's upstream division was on an "exciting mission" with numerous opportunities to stabilize production after a strategic reset in which it formally pulled back from green investments in February. He highlighted plans to start up production at 10 upstream projects from 2025-27 and a further 8-10 by 2030. "The upstream continues to improve every quarter on its operating performance," Birrell told Platts.

For BP's upstream business, pride of place goes to shale -- it is the only major European producer with a sizable US shale business -- and BP plans to allocate a quarter of its upstream capex to the BPX shale division annually, or $2.5 billion/year. It expects to raise the division's output by 7% annually to 650,000 b/d of oil equivalent by 2030, Birrell said – up from 434,000 boe/d in 2024.

On June 3, 2025, as part of the Baku Energy Week, BP signed agreements with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) to acquire stakes in two projects. The first project is the Karabakh field, located 120 km east of Baku and 20-25 km from the Gunashli field, at a depth of 150-200 meters.

The second is the prospective Ashrafi-Dan Ulduzu-Aypara (ADUA) block, located 90-110 km northeast of Baku, at a depth of 80-180 meters. In each of these projects, BP acquired a 35% stake from SOCAR, with the remaining 65% remaining with the Azerbaijani state company. BP will act as the operator of both projects.

According to preliminary estimates, the geological oil reserves at the Karabakh field exceed 60 million tons, of which 21 million tons of oil and 13 billion cubic meters of gas are considered recoverable.