Baku, Azerbaijan, June 1
By Maksim Tsurkov – Trend:
Total investments by BP and partners in Azerbaijan’s oil and gas projects amount to $66 billion, said Joe Murphy, BP vice president for the Southern Gas Corridor.
He was addressing the 24th Caspian International Oil and Gas Conference in Baku June 1.
Murphy said BP is very pleased with its presence in Azerbaijan, which has resulted in numerous successful major projects.
Murphy said today the topsides unit of the Shah Deniz 2 platform was sent offshore as part of the second stage of the Shah Deniz field development, and this is a very significant moment, adding the sail away of the topsides unit for the second block is scheduled for the third quarter of the year.
It is noteworthy that the platform was built entirely on the territory of Azerbaijan, he said and noted that testing of the topsides unit was carried out onshore.
Murphy noted that there are no problems concerning the Shah Deniz Stage 2, and gas will be produced and exported in 2018.
Earlier, the Shah Deniz consortium sent offshore two support blocks of the platform.
The gas, produced within the second stage of Shah Deniz field’s development, will be exported to Turkey and European markets through expansion of the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
Shah Deniz Stage 2 will add a further 16 billion cubic meters per year of gas production to the approximately 9 billion cubic meters per year produced by Shah Deniz Stage 1.
A contract for development of the Shah Deniz offshore field was signed on June 4, 1996. The shareholders in the contract are BP (operator - 28.8 percent), AzSD (10 percent), SGC Upstream (6.7 percent), Petronas (15.5 percent), Lukoil (10 percent), NIOC (10 percent) and TPAO (19 percent).