On the night of 3 December, the wind across the western Caspian rose to hurricane levels. Over 30km off the Absheron Peninsula that juts out into the sea just north of Azerbaijan’s capital Baku, the waves built to eight metres high. The noise on all seven platforms of the BP-operated Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) oil field was infernal. The crews that live and work in these small towns on giant steel legs took shelter in their accommodation blocks, and were on a high state of alert.
As with hurricanes around the oil installations in the Gulf of Mexico or the wild North Sea, there is little that workers can do in such conditions. Helicopters can barely operate and workboats have to stand off from the platforms while everyone waits for the howling to die down.
Just north west of the ACG field lies the Guneshli oil and gas field, where the platforms stand in shallower waters. Largely constructed in the Soviet period, these rigs are wholly owned by the The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR).
