Chirag ( Azerbaijani: ''Çıraq'') is an offshore

oil field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...

in the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

, located east of

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

and is a part of the larger Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) project. The production, drilling and quarters (PDQ) platform ''Chirag 1 (EOP)'' has been in operation since 1997. Chirag 1 has been producing the ''Early Oil'' from the ACG field. ''West Chirag'' is planned as an extension of ACG project.

Chirag-1 and Early Oil Project

The Early Oil Project (EOP) has averaged between of oil since the start of production. It was recognized as the first large-scale oil project in the Caspian Sea region. The project involved investment of $200 million from big financial institutions such as

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

's IFC and the

EBRD The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international financial institution founded in 1991. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies. Initially foc ...

and included development of part of the Chirag oil field, namely refurbishment of an existing Chirag 1 platform, construction of new subsea pipelines, drilling of development and water injection wells; construction of

Sangachal Terminal The Sangachal Terminal is an industrial complex consisting of a natural gas processing plant and oil production plant, located on the coast of the Caspian Sea south of Baku, Azerbaijan. History Construction of the terminal began in 1996 with t ...

; construction of oil export terminal in

Supsa Supsa ( ka, სუფსა) is a Black Sea port village in western Georgia with the population of 273 (2014). It is located in the Lanchkhuti Municipality, on the river Supsa. It is the terminus of the Western Early Oil pipeline from Azerbai ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and completion of export pipelines and facilities in Azerbaijan and Georgia International Finance Corporation(IFC) ''Summary of Project Information (SPI)''
/ref>

Ownership

The subsidiary of

Amoco Amoco () is a brand of fuel stations operating in the United States, and owned by BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company in 1889 around a refinery in Whiting, Indiana, a ...

- Amoco Caspian Sea Petroleum Ltd was the operator for EOP. The partnership also included companies from

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and Azerbaijan. Sponsors' share of the project costs are estimated at $800 million. IFC loans included five A loans (one to each one of borrowers) equalling $100 million in total and five B Loans, also $100 million in total.

Technical features

Chirag 1 facilities include: *24-slot PDQ platform with water injection equipment * long oil pipeline to the

just south of Baku * long gas pipeline to the

Oil Rocks An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

offshore town * long gas pipeline to Central Azeri *Compression and water injection platform.Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli. The largest oil field under development in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian basin
/ref> This part of the field is forecasted to produce until 2024. Initially, the production from Chirag was exported through

Baku–Novorossiysk pipeline The Baku–Novorossiysk pipeline (also known as the Northern Route Export Pipeline and Northern Early Oil Pipeline) is an long oil pipeline, which runs from the Sangachal Terminal near Baku to the Novorossiysk terminal at the Black Sea coast ...

. Once the Baku-Supsa pipeline became operational in 1999, the production was also directed through Georgia.

West Chirag

In March 2009, KBR was awarded a contract by BP on behalf of

Azerbaijan International Operating Company Azerbaijan International Operating Company is a consortium formed to implement the terms of the “Agreement on the Joint Development and Production Sharing for the Azeri and Chirag Fields and the Deep Water Portion of the Gunashli Field in the Az ...

to provide front-end engineering and design (FEED) and procurement services for the Chirag drilling platform. This is considered to be an expansion of ACG field development and is also known as Chirag Oil Project. In September 2010, construction of steel jacket for ''West Chirag'' platform will be started. Construction will be conducted by Baku Deepwater Jacket Factory named after

Heydar Aliyev Heydar Alirza oghlu Aliyev ( az, Һејдәр Әлирза оғлу Әлијев, italic=no, Heydər Əlirza oğlu Əliyev, ; , ; 10 May 1923 – 12 December 2003) was a Soviet and Azerbaijani politician who served as the third president of Aze ...

. Project management plans West Chirag production to start in the second quarter of 2014. According to preliminary forecasts, the platform will produce and 209 million cm³/day and a total of of oil at an investment cost of $6 billion. Gas produced from Chirag is planned to be exported to Europe in 2016.

References

External links