WOOD Group has won a $500m (£340m) contract to work on oil and gas platforms off Azerbaijan for BP, which it expects to create 200 jobs to fulfil. In a win which provides a significant boost for Aberdeen-based Wood Group amid the crude price slump, the group has been appointed to provide engineering and construction management services on eight platforms in the Caspian Sea for five years. The contract win will help offset the impact of the slowdown in North Sea activity, which has posed big challenges for Wood. The group shed 2,000 jobs in the UK last year reducing employee numbers by 20 per cent, to around 8,000. Led by chief executive Robin Watson, Wood Group already provides subsea services for BP on the eight platforms covered by the latest contract. The platforms are used to produce oil and gas from the giant Chirag-Azeri-Deepwater Guneshli complex of fields.