BP weighs substantial new gas investment at Azerbaijan's ACG field

BP is carrying out more drilling at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli field and may develop further gas production there, Giovanni Cristofoli, BP's regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, told reporters June 2.

"We've got another well coming up soon, and then we're going to look at the data, and potentially that could lead to a multi-billion-dollar investment with the gas underneath the ACG reservoir," he said on the sidelines of Baku Energy Week.

On June 1, BP announced that it had launched non-associated gas production at ACG.

Christofoli said BP has completed 30% of the Shah Deniz compression project and is on track to launch in 2029.

"That will give new life to Shah Deniz as a gas field," he said.

Shah Deniz accounts for over half of Azerbaijan's gas output and produced 27.9 billion cubic meters in 2025, up 0.4% from 2024, according to energy ministry data.

Oil developments

Cristofoli added that BP is deploying technology to maximize oil recovery at ACG -- the main source of Azeri Light crude.

"So far, we've got 4.6 billion barrels of oil, and we think there is more and more to come," he said.

BP previously said that first-quarter production from the field totaled about 29 million barrels -- an average of about 325,000 barrels/day -- down 1.8% year over year.

BP added that it is continuing to conduct seismic surveys of the offshore Karabagh oil field in the Caspian Sea and plans to take a final investment decision in mid-2025.

"That will be the first time we use existing infrastructure in the Caspian to bring new fields in. So that's a major milestone as well," he said.

Christofoli said BP is on track to transfer control of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Supsa oil pipelines in line with contractual obligations.

BP is due to transfer control of BTC to Socar July 1.

"Socar has the expertise, the capability to really run the pipeline really well," he said.

BTC shipped about 500,000 b/d in May, according to preliminary data from S&P Global Commodities at Sea.

Christofoli said BP's investment plans for Azerbaijan have not changed as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, which has cut off large amounts of oil and gas supply from the region and driven price volatility in recent months.

"I think as part of a disciplined capital deployment, we cannot really respond to sudden changes in oil prices. So, our investment decisions are based on the same capital and oil price environment as it was at the beginning of the year," he said.

Platts, part of S&P Global Energy, assessed Dated Brent at $100.295/b on June 1. The assessment has ranged from $77.81/b to $144.42/b since the US and Israel attacked Iran Feb. 28.