Today marks the 20th anniversary of the first oil production from the Central Azeri platform, the second oldest platform on the Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG) field, following Chirag.
On 18 February 2005, President Ilham Aliyev visited the newly-built Central Azeri production, drilling, and quarters platform to officially celebrate the first oil that marked the start of production from the ACG Full Field Development.
Since then, Central Azeri has been at the forefront of ACG’s production journey, delivering over 1.1 billion barrels (152 million tonnes) of oil – the highest among all ACG platforms.
In 2024, the Central Azeri platform continued to operate safely and reliably, maintaining its leading position among the ACG platforms with an average daily production of 97,000 barrels per day.
The Central Azeri production, drilling, and quarters platform, along with the bridge-linked compression and water injection platform, forms one of the largest offshore installation complexes in the Caspian. It also serves as a critical operations hub for other ACG platforms and installations, thanks to its enhanced technical capabilities that ensure safe and reliable operations across the entire field.
Currently, around 210 people work on this installation, 96% of whom are Azerbaijani nationals. This includes one of the two platform managers (OIMs), Javid Iskenderli, who has been honoured with the SOCAR Honorary Award for his exceptional contribution to Azerbaijan’s oil and gas industry.
Today, a total of 43 wells are in use on the platform, including 28 oil producers, nine gas injectors, five water injectors, and one cuttings re-injector well.
Central Azeri is a world-class asset that will continue to make significant contributions to the ongoing success of the giant ACG field and Azerbaijan’s oil industry for many decades to come.
