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  1. Home
  2. Who we are
  3. Technology
  4. Responding to Azerbaijan’s challenges

Responding to Azerbaijan’s challenges

Since the Contract of the Century, our technologies and expertise have been applied in the giant Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field.  From early 2D and 3D towed streamer seismic surveys to begin our understanding of the reservoirs - and how to deliver the first Azeri development. Always pushing at the limits of technology to deal with challenges, many of which are unique to operating in this basin:

 

Azerbaijan’s technical challenges

 

 A range of bp’s technology responses

Geologically young reservoirs in a tectonically active basin have resulted in soft, weakly consolidated sediments with large pressure differentials across zones
  • Advanced Completion Design (e.g. Open and Cased Hole Gravel Pack Screens, Insert Ceramic Screens)
  • Concentric Coiled Tubing Sand Clean-Out
  • Downhole Sand Diagnostics  with Distributed Acoustic Sensor (DAS)
  • Downhole Sand  Management mechanically (e.g.expandable patches) and chemically
  • Downhole Water and Gas Management mechanically (e.g. straddle system) and chemically
The Caspian is land-locked, impacting drilling equipment availability. This constrains the number of reservoir penetrations made each year; in short, every well drilled must deliver and sustain maximum productivity and injectivity
  • bp Well Advisor – Casing Runing Console, Cementing Console
  • Drawdown Controller
  • Distributed Temperature Sensor (DTS) for continues well surveillance
  • Production System Optimization tool
  • Combination of Down Hole Flow Control valves (up to 4 zone) with DTS in multizone injectors
  • Simultaneous Operations, SIMOPS, for drilling and wells intervention
ACG is vast, equivalent in length to Greater London, yet is being developed from just six platforms
  • Extended reach drilling
  • High-angle (near horizontal) drilling technology
  • Uphole Recompletions with Sand Control (e.g. Cased Hole Gravel Pac Screens)      
Complex ocean floor topography, such as mud volcanoes and scarps
  • Ocean Bottom Seismic
  • Full Waveform Inversion
  • Finite Difference Modelling
Shah Deniz drilling is at the frontier, with narrow pore pressure and fracture gradient margins and high pressures. Shafag Asiman will build on experience  from Shah Deniz high pressure drilling and production
  • Borehole Strengthening (StressCage)
  • No Drilling Surprises Console
  • Finite Element Model
  • Managed Pressure Drilling
  • Wellhead Fatigue Management