During quarter 1, 2014 8 million tons of oil was extracted from Azeri, Chirag and deep-water Guneshli field (ACG), reads the report of BP-Azerbaijan company, the ACG operator.
8.06 million tons of oil was extracted on the ACG contract area from January to March 2014.
According to BP-Azerbaijan, during this period average daily oil production totaled 645,800 tons against 662,000 barrels in quarter 1, 2013. This means that average daily production on the contract area dropped by 16,200 barrels a day.
In quarter 1, 2014 in average 66,600 barrels of oil a day was extracted from the Chirag platform, 168,400 barrels a day from the Central Azeri platform, 169,200 barrels a day from Western Azeri platform, 84,300 barrels a day from Eastern Azeri platform, 146,200 barrels a day from the deep-water Guneshli platform and 11,100 barrels a day from the Western Chirag platform.
By the end of quarter 1, 2014 the consortium had 79 production wells and 34 technical wells on the ACG contract area. A year ago there were 64 production and 30 technical wells.
During quarter 1, 2014 the operating costs totaled $216 million and the capital outlays – $692 million. From January to March 2013 the consortium has spent $198 and $648 million, respectively, for the same purposes. During a quarter the consortium’s costs increased by $62 million or by 688,900 a day.
At the end of last year the company put into operation a new production platform Western Chirag. During two months only two wells were in operation.
This means that production on the contract area continues declining, despite the consortium’s efforts to drill new operation wells. The cost price of production grows and the company’s profit and the government’s profit keep on going down. The fact that oil prices remain high at the world markets and the production on the ACG contract area declines gradually saves the situation. Since 2016 production on ACG will go down even more and if oil prices will go down, then Azerbaijan’s incomes will decrease.
During 2013 the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) received $16.26 billion of incomes from the ACG development. In 2011 the income from ACG was the highest – $19.03 bilion.
