- A world class project delivered safely and on schedule;
- A new source of energy supply for Europe to diversify its energy market strengthening its energy security;
- A major contribution to Europe’s energy transition and decarbonized future
The Shah Deniz consortium today announced commencement of commercial gas deliveries to Europe from the Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea via the newly-launched Southern Gas Corridor (SGC). This follows safe and reliable gas deliveries to regional markets from the Shah Deniz field via the first two sections of SGC – the South Caucasus Pipeline expansion (SCPx) and Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) - starting mid- 2018 and marks the full integration of the entire SGC gas value chain stretching 3500 km from Azerbaijan to Europe.
Shah Deniz, offshore Azerbaijan, is the starting point of SGC, which is built to deliver Caspian energy resources directly to European markets for the first time. The field is expected to supply 16 billion cubic meters of gas to markets in the region and Europe via SGC.
Gary Jones, BP’s Regional President for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, said: “The commencement of first gas deliveries to Europe from Azerbaijan is the culmination of years of work by many thousands of people from all the countries involved – the workforce, communities, companies, the government of Azerbaijan, other regional and international governments, SOCAR and our partners. This is truly a world class project in all respects and supports the efforts aimed at increasing gas supplies in the energy mix in the region and Europe.
“We are very proud of what we have achieved together. We are proud that notwithstanding the complexity of all aspects of the project – engineering, technical, geographical and geopolitical, we delivered it safely, on schedule and under budget. This once again demonstrates that together we can deliver the most complex mega scale projects successfully. This is a historic milestone for both Azerbaijan and Europe now connected with a direct, safe and reliable energy link which will significantly contribute to Europe’s decarbonised future.”
Notes to Editors
- Shah Deniz participating interests are: BP (operator – 28.8%), TPAO (19.0%), AzSD (10.0%), SGC Upstream (6.7%), PETRONAS (15.5%), LUKOIL (10.0%) and NICO (10.0%).
- Shah Deniz – located in the Caspian Sea offshore Azerbaijan is the largest ever gas discovery made by BP.
- The giant field covers approximately 860 square kilometres;
- The field was discovered in 1999 – with approximately 1 trillion cubic metres of gas and 2 billion barrels of condensate initially in place.
- To date the field has produced more than 130 billion cubic metres of gas and more than 31 million tonnes of condensate.
- The first phase of the Shah Deniz field came on production in 2006 and currently produces more than 10 billion cubic metres per annum (bcma) of gas delivering it to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey;
- The second phase of Shah Deniz development will add 16 bcma of gas bringing the total production from the field up to 26 bcma of gas.
- The additional 16 bcma of Shah Deniz gas will flow through the SGC pipeline system to Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Albania and Italy. The pipelines that make up the new SGC system consist of the South Caucasus Pipeline expansion (SCPX) through Azerbaijan and Georgia - 428 km of new 48-inch pipeline through Azerbaijan; 59 km of new 48-inch pipeline and 2 new compressor stations in Georgia; TANAP - 1300km of 56-inch pipeline and 600km of 48-inch pipeline across Turkey; and TAP – 878 km of 48-inch pipeline across Greece, Albania and Italy.
Further information:
SOCAR's Public Relations and Event Management Department
e-mail: press@socar.az
Telephone: (+994 12) 521 03 69
Tamam Bayatly in BP's Press Office in Azerbaijan.
Telephone: (+994 12) 599 45 57