BP plans to drill three oil wells in the Azeri Central East (ACE) platform at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of fields, Azernews reports citing bp Regional President to Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkiye Gary Jones telling at the briefing dedicated to company’s plans for future.

"The first well will be drilled before the end of this year. Preliminary results will be known in the first quarter of 2024, and then we will make a decision on further drilling," Jones noted.

Gary Jones said that in the middle of 2023, the upper modules of the ACE platform will be shipped to the sea.

He told that bp is not going to suspend works on platforms over maintenance. According to him, maintenance works carried out in 2022 were successful.

Gary added that the company resumed oil transportation via the Baku-Supsa pipeline and two tankers with oil have already been delivered to the Supsa port in Georgia.

"Depending on weather conditions, oil via Baku-Supsa will be transported to world markets," he said.

He opined that the Southern Gas Corridor is getting more and more important and it is planned to increase SGC’s transmission capacity in the future. He noted that the infrastructure exists and there are opportunities for expansion.

In his speech, Gary Jones also touched on the social projects done by bp and noted that the company has implemented social projects worth $100m since starting operation in Azerbaijan. He added that the company spent $5.4m on social projects in 2022.

"In most cases, these expenses were directed to the development of education. I consider Azerbaijani universities to be among the best in the world," he said.

He underscored that leading global companies, including bp, hire alumni of Azerbaijani universities every year.