Shah Deniz partners commit to compression at Caspian Sea Shah Deniz gas field
bp has signed various agreements at Baku Energy Week. These include FID (with its partners) on the next major phase of development of the giant Shah Deniz gas field in the Caspian Sea, involving the addition of compression.
Another concerns electrification of the onshore Sangachal processing and export terminal receiving the gas. This program, linked to a new solar energy project, should free up fuel gas at the terminal for export through existing overland pipeline networks.
The $2.9 billion Shah Deniz Compression project represents the field’s third phase of development. It will access and produce low-pressure gas from the field leading to increased recovery and extending the field’s productive life.
The development will be designed to recover about 50 Bcm of additional gas and 25 MMbbl of condensate.
A new, electrically powered unmanned compression platform will be built and installed in 85 m water depth, 3 km from the Shah Deniz Bravo (SDB) platform.
The SDC platform, with four 11-MW compressors onboard, will host gas compression from both the Shah Deniz Alpha (SDA) and SDB platforms. The compressed export gas will then head through the offshore pipeline system to the Sangachal terminal.
Associated facilities to be installed offshore in the Shah Deniz contract area will include:
- Infield subsea gas pipelines to and from the existing SDA and SDB platforms' gas export lines;
- A combined power and fiber-optic cable from the Sangachal terminal to the SDC platform, providing power for the new installation;
- A backup interconnector power and fiber-optic cable from the SDB to the SDC platform; and
- Brownfield works at SDA, SDB, and the Sangachal terminal.
Construction is set to start late this year, and all work should be completed in 2029. The same year, everything should be in place for the reception of first gas for compression from the SDA platform in 2029, followed by gas reception from the SDB platform in 2030.
All activities will take place in Azerbaijan, creating up to 4,000 jobs.
Shah Deniz was discovered in 1999 with an estimated 1 Tcm of gas and 2 Bbbl of condensate in place at the time.
Gas exports from the Shah Deniz stage 1 development started in 2006, initially to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Türkiye, and later, via Shah Deniz 2, through the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline to Türkiye in June 2018 and to Europe in December 2020.
Since startup, the field has produced about 243 Bcm of gas and 50 MM metric tons of condensate.
In addition to the new projects, bp executed an agreement with SOCAR to access two blocks in the Caspian Sea for exploration and development, for the Karabagh oil field discovery and the Ashrafi-Dan Ulduzu-Aypara (ADUA) area.
bp will have 35% operated interest in both blocks, with SOCAR holding the remaining 65%.
The two companies also agreed to admit TPAO as a 30% partner in their production sharing agreement for the Shafag-Asiman Block in the Caspian Sea. This should help speed up evaluation of development opportunities for the block, bp said. The first well, drilled in 2021, encountered gas condensate resources.
The planned work program includes drilling a well into the Lower Surakhany reservoir, supported by an extension of the exploration period under the production sharing agreement.
The farm-out should completed by the end of the third quarter.
