Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16
By Maksim Tsurkov – Trend:
About $784 million were spent in capital expenditure and more than $29 million in operating expenditures on the South Caucasus Pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum) in 2017, BP said in a report on its activity in Azerbaijan in 2017.
The pipeline’s daily average throughput was about 20.5 million cubic meters of gas per day in 2017, according to the report.
Expansion of the South Caucasus Pipeline, which is a part of the Shah Deniz Stage 2 project, is 99 percent complete, according to the report.
“Mainline construction has been completed in Azerbaijan and Georgia,” said the report. “On the Azerbaijan section of the pipeline, the focus is on back-end activities including tie-in sections and hydro-testing.”
“Within Georgia, hydrocarbons have been safely introduced into the metering station (Area 81) on the Georgian-Turkish border, the Georgia pipeline loop and Compressor Station 1 (CSG1),” the report noted. “Area 81 is now fully operational and is the first asset within the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) to be declared ready to operate.”
“Focus is now on completing safe start-up of CSG1 in preparation for operation and completion of the construction and commissioning activities on the second Compressor Station (CSG2) in Georgia,” said the report.
The length of the South Caucasus Pipeline exceeds 700 kilometers. The gas produced from the Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea is transported via the pipeline. The gas is delivered to Georgia and Turkey. At the same time, Azerbaijan also buys that gas.
A contract for development of the Shah Deniz offshore field was signed on June 4, 1996. The field’s reserve is estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.
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