BP: Thousands of barrels of oil will remain underground if sand problem isn't solved

Modern technologies and innovative approaches and methods are required to extract the remaining oil volumes from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field, operated by BP, and to export these volumes to Europe and other markets, BP Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Türkiye Giovanni Cristofoli said at the SPE-2025 Caspian Technical Conference in Baku, Report informs.

"For example, the drilling of longer horizontal wells and the sand problem faced by production wells should be solved precisely through the application of technology. The demand for technology is very high. BP's head of technology recently visited Baku, and we explained our key challenges to her – in Sangachal and offshore. We require increasingly longer horizontal wells, and we still don't fully understand how to optimally drill them. Sand is a serious problem. According to our calculations, 8,000 barrels of oil per day may remain underground next year due to the problem of sand management. The appropriate technology is being used to make this accessible," Cristofoli added.