In the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) structure, located in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, it is possible to talk about extracting any resources from the deep gas layers under the oil field currently in operation in 2024.

"APA-Economics" reports that Bakhtiyar Aslanbeyli, BP's vice president for communication and external relations in the Caspian region, told journalists about this.

According to him, everything depends on the results of the evaluation well that will be drilled in the field.

That is, the activity in this direction will be determined after the drilling of the well is completed, data interpretation is carried out and results are obtained.

"If everything goes well, in 2024 we can talk about extracting any resources from there," Bakhtiyar Aslanbeyli said.

Bakhtiyar Aslanbeyli, who answered the question about which contract (old or new - ed.) the deep gas layers will be developed if the results are successful, noted that this issue will be determined after discussion with all partners of the ACG project.

It should be noted that the BP company, the operator of the ACG project, has announced the start of operations to drill a new appraisal well in order to collect information about the deep gas layers under the operational oil field in the ACG.

This well, called A22z, will be drilled from the Chirag platform and will enter deep gas formations in the southern flank of the ACG structure through a side pipe from the existing A22 injection well (water injection well - ed.).

The drilling of the well will start in early February.

If successful, the information obtained from the well will allow for an expanded understanding of the structure of the area and the pressures in the deep formations.

Drilling the well will take about three months.

After that, an extensive logging program and the installation of measuring devices to record pressure data are planned for the well.

It should be noted that the distribution of shares in ACG is as follows: BP – 30.37% (operator), AzACG (SOCAR) – 25.00%, MOL – 9.57%, "Inpex" – 9.31%, "Equinor" (formerly Statoil) – 7.27%, ExxonMobil – 6.79%, TPAO – 5.73%, Itochu – 3.65% and ONGC Videsh Ltd.

(OVL) – 2.31%.

The agreement between the parties was valid for 30 years (it was supposed to expire in 2024).

Nevertheless, on September 14, 2017, the government of Azerbaijan and SOCAR, together with international partner companies, signed an amended and revised agreement on joint development of ACG and production sharing.

The new agreement, covering the development of ACG until 2050, will make it possible to significantly increase the bloc's development potential by the middle of the century.