'Shah Deniz: Delivering on commitments'
Dear co-chairs, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon!
It is a pleasure to join you all today.
Each year, this forum grows in importance.
Just like the role of SGC and Shah Deniz in today’s fast-changing energy landscape.
Here’s why.
Energy demand continues to grow.
At the same time, carbon emissions need to be reduced.
The world is in an ‘energy addition’ phase.
Consuming increasing amounts of both fossil fuels and low carbon energy to meet the demand.
Oil and gas will be needed for decades to come.
We expect continuing robust demand for oil and gas to 2035.
Especially for natural gas in emerging economies.
bp’s reset strategy is designed to help meet the growing demand.
Our purpose is to deliver energy to the world, today and tomorrow.
We are planning to grow upstream:
We are confident in our plans.
Because we have expertise in developing and managing large and complex fields.
And operating highly integrated oil and gas value chains.
Just like the huge Shah Deniz project that ensures gas deliveries from Azerbaijan to Europe and the countries along SGC.
I’m pleased to say that Shah Deniz continues to produce gas safely and efficiently.
Supporting Azerbaijan’s commitment to European and regional markets.
Last year, the field delivered about 28 billion cubic metres of gas, exceeding its plateau rates.
With outstanding reservoir, wells and export reliability of almost 100%.
Today, Shah Deniz remains bp’s largest gas producer.
Its facilities can produce and handle about 79 million standard cubic metres of gas daily.
The operators of SGC have worked together to increase the daily flows to Europe to about 12 billion cubic meters per year.
This capacity is maintained and often utilized today.
And we are progressing with the incremental TAP expansion.
Aiming to raise total export capacity to Europe to approximately 14 billion cubic meters per year from 2026.
We are also working to enhance Shah Deniz’s safety, operational efficiency and sustainability.
Last year, we completed the Shah Deniz Alpha power project.
Enabling the Alpha platform get power directly from Bravo, 8 kilometres away, via a subsea power and fibre optic cable.
This eliminated the need for five diesel generators.
Improving efficiency, ensuring reliable long-term power supply, and reducing costs.
At the same time, we are expanding Shah Deniz subsea production system.
As of last October, all five subsea flanks on Shah Deniz are online.
We are planning to put six more wells on stream in the coming years.
All this will allow to further meet our commitments to the markets.
Looking ahead, our focus is on maximizing recovery from the producing Shah Deniz reservoirs.
And extending plateau production for as long as possible to ensure continued energy supply.
To achieve this, we are currently working on the Shah Deniz compression project – the next step in field development.
The project aims to access and produce low-pressure gas reserves, maximizing recovery.
It includes building and operating an offshore platform with electrically powered compression facilities.
You can see its 3D model on the screen.
The platform is designed to run remotely without a full-time crew and will operate entirely on electricity.
Further, it can also serve to electrify the Shah Deniz Bravo platform.
And eventually, pave the way for full electrification across the entire field.
The project is currently at the Define phase.
We are discussing its environmental and social impact assessment with the government and public.
Our goal is to reach a final investment decision by mid this year, start construction next year and bring the platform online by 2029.
This will help extend Shah Deniz plateau production well beyond this decade.
At the same time, we are actively looking for potential new sources of gas beyond Shah Deniz.
Last September, we signed an addendum to the ACG PSA to progress the development and production from ACG’s non-associated gas reservoirs.
These reservoirs hold significant potential, with up to 4 trillion cubic feet of recoverable resources.
We have just completed drilling an initial production well from the existing West Chirag platform, which you can see on the screen.
And we expect to achieve first gas by the end of this year, once all completion and subsea tie-in works are finished.
This well is particularly important as it will also deliver appraisal through production.
This will help shape future ACG NAG development plans.
We are also exploring ways to save more gas by electrifying our operations.
The electrification of the Sangachal terminal is one of the options.
This is directly linked to our Shafag project - a 240MW solar plant to be built in Jabrail.
The project will pilot a new virtual power transfer model.
My colleague Colin will explain it in more detail at the Green Energy panel later today.
This model will allow us to use the electricity generated in Jabrail to power our operations at Sangachal, balancing it with grid supply.
This will eliminate the need to burn fuel gas for the terminal’s energy needs.
And free up more volumes for export.
We have worked very productively with AzerEnerji, aligning on a number of key elements and completing Front End Engineering and Design activities.
This close collaboration has brought both the Sangachal terminal electrification and the Shafag project to readiness for final investment decisions.
We look forward to taking this next important step in the coming months.
To summarize, let me bring it back to where I started.
Global energy demand continues to grow.
With oil and gas remaining a critical part of the energy mix.
Shah Deniz and SGC are key to ensuring energy security in the region and Europe.
bp’s reset strategy reinforces our commitment as operator.
To safely and reliably produce gas from the Caspian.
To supply regional and European markets.
And to support Azerbaijan’s plans to increase gas exports through SGC.
As a long-term and trusted partner, we are ready to help Azerbaijan realize its plans for SGC and navigate through energy transition.
Thank you.