In April 2019, partners in the offshore Azeri Chirag Gunashli (ACG) oilfield in the Caspian Sea made a USD 6 billion investment decision to build an additional platform in the license area.

The investment decision follows an agreement with the Government of Azerbaijan to extend the life of the ACG field until 2049. 

The new platform, called ACE (Azeri-Central-East), will be integrated with existing infrastructure. It is designed to process up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day and expected to produce up to 300 million barrels over its lifetime. Equinor holds a 7.27% share in the oilfield and first oil is expected in 2023. 

ACG currently has eight offshore platforms – six production platforms and two process, gas compression, water injection and utilities platforms. The platforms export oil and gas to the Sangachal Terminal, one of the world’s largest oil and gas terminals, onshore near Baku. In 2018, total production from ACG averaged 584,000 barrels per day, of which Equinor has an equity production of approximately 43,000 barrels per day.

At 1Q 2024, ACG participating interests are: bp (30.37%), SOCAR (25.0%), MOL (9.57%), INPEX (9.31%), Equinor (7.27%), ExxonMobil (6.79%), TPAO (5.73%), ITOCHU (3.65%), ONGCVidesh (2.31%).

New production start-up

In April 2024, bp, as operator of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) project, announced the start-up of oil production from the new Azeri Central East (ACE) platform as part of the ACG field development in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea.

The ACE platform is the seventh oil producing platform installed on the giant ACG field in the Caspian Sea.

The ACE platform and related facilities are designed to process up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) and the project is expected to produce up to 300 million barrels over its lifetime. Oil will pass through the processing facilities on the platform and then be exported around 130 kilometres to the onshore Sangachal terminal via a new in-field pipeline linked to an existing 30-inch subsea export line.

KeyFacts Energy: Projects Database