West Azeri marks 20 years of oil production
Baku, December 29, AZERTAC
bp, the operator of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) oil field development, announced that December 30 marks the 20th anniversary of first oil from the West Azeri platform, a key milestone in the development of the giant ACG field.
Production from West Azeri began on 30 December 2005, signaling the start-up of Phase 2 of the ACG full field development. Oil flowed from the first of three pre-drilled production wells and, transiting the subsea pipeline to shore, reached the Sangachal terminal on 4 January 2006.
Since then, West Azeri has been at the forefront of ACG’s success, delivering over 1 billion barrels (142 million tonnes) of oil – ranking second among all ACG platforms after Central Azeri. The platform is also a significant contributor to the 4.5 billion barrels of total ACG production since the field started up in November 1997.
Currently, the platform continues to operate safely and reliably, with an average daily production of 76,000 barrels per day (end of the third quarter of 2025).
The West Azeri facilities include a 48-slot production, drilling and quarters platform and a 30-inch subsea oil pipeline connecting it to the Sangachal terminal.
Today, around 170 people work on the platform, the majority of whom are Azerbaijani nationals, including both installation managers.
Since start-up, more than 40 wells and multiple sidetracks have been drilled on West Azeri. Currently, 32 wells are active - 24 producers and eight water injectors.
Emin Ibrahimov, West Azeri operations installation manager, said: “We, as the West Azeri family, are proud to operate one of ACG’s top-performing assets. Looking back, one of our earliest wells – C-06 – which came online in 2005 with an initial production rate of 35,000 barrels per day, was one of the worldwide top producers. To date, it has delivered a total of 80 million barrels – an outstanding achievement for any oil well. I would like to congratulate the entire West Azeri team on this historic anniversary and reaffirm that West Azeri remains a world-class asset, continuing to make significant contributions to the success of the ACG field and Azerbaijan’s oil industry for decades to come.”
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