Shah Deniz Stage 2

The next phase of development of Shah Deniz – Shah Deniz 2 – was sanctioned in 2013 and has proved to be one of the largest and most complex gas projects in the world. It represents the first subsea development in the Caspian Sea and the largest subsea infrastructure operated by bp worldwide. Shah Deniz Stage 2, one of the largest gas developments in the world, is also a gateway to the Southern Gas Corridor(SGC) that delivers natural gas from the Caspian Sea directly to European markets for the first time.

Offshore, the Shah Deniz 2 project includes 26 subsea wells, 500km of subsea pipelines and flowlines and a new bridge-linked double platform. Gas is transported onshore through an 85 km pipeline to the Sangachal terminal, which underwent a major expansion to accommodate the new increased gas output. The project also expanded SCP - 428km of new pipeline in Azerbaijan and 59km in Georgia, including three new compression facilities pushing the gas across its 3,500 km long journey to Europe.

At plateau, Shah Deniz 2 will produce 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year (bcma). Together with output from the first phase of development, total production from the Shah Deniz field will be up to 26 bcma of gas and over 100,000 barrels of condensate a day.

With the launch of SGC, Shah Deniz commenced the delivery of significant new energy supplies to Europe, further diversifying its sources of energy and providing new supplies of natural gas which will be essential in the energy transition.

After achieving significant commissioning and completion milestones across the whole gas value chain at the beginning of 2018, the Southern Gas Corridor official inauguration event was held at the Sangachal Terminal on 29 May 2018. This was followed by the commencement of commercial gas deliveries to Turkey from the Shah Deniz 2 development project as planned on 30 June 2018.

On 30 July 2018, the wing valve on the North Flank subsea well SDC-03Z was opened, marking the first production from the Shah Deniz Bravo platform. This milestone marked the very first production from a subsea well in the Caspian, a significant achievement, which has been delivered safely, below budget and ahead of schedule. The Bravo facility is now exporting gas and condensate to the onshore terminal at Sangachal. 

On 31 December 2020, Shah Deniz celebrated a significant achievement by commencing first ever commercial gas deliveries to European markets via the newly-completed Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) pipeline system. The Shah Deniz field is the starting point of SGC and the commencement of gas deliveries to Europe from Shah Deniz marks the full integration of the entire SGC gas value chain, stretching 3,500 kilometres from Azerbaijan to Europe. With this important achievement Shah Deniz represents a new source of energy supply for Europe diversifying its energy market and strengthening its energy security.

In the first half of 2024, Shah Deniz 2 safely achieved two major milestones by starting up production from the East North flank wells. The first well began production on 13 February, and the second well was brought online on 19 June.

The subsea construction vessel Khankendi continued to perform project installation and commissioning activities while it also started providing life of field support covering services, surveys and interventions in all of the Shah Deniz 2 subsea producing assets.

The vessel has significantly expanded its scope of services under a new operatorship and maintenance contract specifically designed for bp and its partners to use a single vessel strategy. This means the Khankendi will be used as the main vessel for all offshore construction, installation, inspection, maintenance and repair works, as well as for emergency response activities, making bp’s and its partners’ operations in the Caspian safer and more efficient.

Drilling

During the first half of 2024, the Shah Deniz Alpha platform rig was on warm stack.

The Shah Deniz 2 project progressed with the wells programme activities using the Istiglal and Heydar Aliyev rigs. During the first six months of the year, these mainly included the completion of the SDH03 well, the de-completion and completion of the SDH01 well and commencement of the de-completion of the SDH02 well by the Istiglal rig – all on the East North flank.

The Heydar Aliyev rig progressed with the drilling of the SDD05 well on the West Flank.

In total, 21 wells have been drilled for Shah Deniz 2. These include five wells on the North flank, four wells on the West flank, four wells on the East South flank, five wells on the West South flank and three wells on the East North flank.