(MENAFN- AzerNews) bp as operator of the Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG)
field development project announces that today the Azeri Central
East (ACE) platform topsides unit sailed away from the Bayil
fabrication yard where it was built, Azernews reports, citing
bp.
Prior to its sail away the topsides unit was mostly commissioned
and operationally tested onshore to minimise activities required
for offshore installation and start-up.
On 4 April, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev visited the
topsides fabrication yard and toured the almost completed topsides
unit before it had sailed away to its permanent location. Since
then, the team have successfully completed the key commissioning
activities planned to be performed onshore. These activities mainly
included the successful completion of the rig access period, the
integrated assurance test and the blowdown safety testing.
Following these completions, the topsides unit was safely
jacked-up and lowered onto the load-out frame in preparation for
skidding onto the transportation barge.
On 30 May, the transportation barge STB-1 arrived at the
Bibi-Heybat yard and preparations for load out activities
commenced. On 2 July, the topsides unit was transferred onto the
STB-1 barge,sea-fastened and prepared for sail away to the ACG
field.
The topsides transportation, float-over and installation
activities have been carefully planned and are expected to take
around four days to complete. The unit will be installed on top of
the ACE platform jacket which has been at its offshore location
since March installed in a water depth of 137 metres.
Gary Jones, bp's regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia and
Türkiye, said:
“Today we sailed away the final section of the ACE platform
which we believe is an amazing feat of innovative engineering with
its state-of-the-art design that will make it possible to
extensively use system and process automations and digital
innovations. This platform will be controlled remotely from the
Sangachal terminal and this is the first time in our experience in
the Caspian that we will control an offshore platform from
onshore.
“As operator we are extremely pleased to have completed all
onshore construction and commissioning activities of such a complex
project safely. I would like to say a huge thank you to all people
involved in the construction and commissioning works. My special
thanks are to our fabrication contractors, construction,
commissioning, operations, safety and engineering teams and all the
workforce for their excellent performance and delivery.
“We expect the topsides unit to be safely installed onto the
jacket over the next week. We will then need a few months to
complete offshore hook up and commissioning works to allow us
tocommence drilling the first platform production well and deliver
ACE first oil in early 2024.”
The construction of the 19,600-tonne topsides unit started in
2019 and was completed with outstanding safety achievements of over
21 million hoursworked injury free.
The ACE topsides unit consists of oil and gas processing
facilities, an integrated drilling rig, a gas compressor and living
quarters.
The topsides unit was constructed by Azfen in the Bayil
fabrication yard using local infrastructure and resources.