BP as the operator of the Shah Deniz gas and condensate development project, commenced in September laying Stage 1 subsea pipelines.
The parties to the Shah Deniz Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) are: BP (operator – 25,5%), Statoil (25,5%), the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR – 10%), Lukoil (10%), NICO (10%), Total (10%), and TPAO (9%).
The Shah Deniz subsea pipelay programme consists of installation of three 90 km pipelines – a 26” gas pipeline and a 12” pipeline for condensate, and a 4” piggy-backed mono ethylene glycol pipeline.
The pipelay programme utilises the Israfil Huseynov barge which previously was successfully re-fit and upgraded for Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) subsea pipelay operations. The pipeline installation contractor McDermott Caspian Contractors, Inc., plans to expend almost 700,000 man-hours on the Shah Deniz offshore pipeline installation activities. The project which will employ up to 400 local Azerbaijanian workforce.
To date about 40% of the total length of Stage 1 offshore pipelines has already been laid and the programme will be completed by the end of January 2006.
Tony Boyle, BP’s Offshore Pipelines Project Director, says: We are delighted with the progress we are making on the Shah Deniz offshore pipe-lay, and remain on schedule to complete early in 2006. The pipe was coated here in Azerbaijan. We utilize a lot of local infrastructure, including support bases, the lay barge and several support vessels. And a high proportion of the pipe-lay and support workforce are Azerbaijan nationals. To date we have laid over 40% of the 270km total Shah Deniz subsea pipe, and fabrication of the subsea structures is progressing in accordance with the plan.”
Notes to Editors:
The Shah Deniz Stage 1 project which was sanctioned in February 2003, includes both an upstream and a midstream development. The Upstream project comprises a 15 well-slot TPG 500 type production, drilling and quarters platform to be installed in 105 m water depth mid next year; three sub-sea pipelines of 90 km each -- a 26” pipeline for gas and a 12” pipeline for condensate, and a 4” mono ethylene glycol (MEG) pipeline – from the TPG 500 to the Sangachal Terminal; and gas and condensate processing facilities in the onshore terminal.
The Midstream project comprises a new gas export system - the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) - from Azerbaijan through Georgia to the Turkish border. SCP is a pipeline 690 kilometres in length (442 km in Azerbaijan and 248 km in Georgia) which is being constructed in the same corridor as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil export pipeline in order to minimise the environmental and social impact. The pipeline diameter is 42”.The SCP pipelay is on schedule to enable delivery of first gas to Turkey in 4Q 2006.
BP Press Office, Baku: +994 12 599 45 57