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Ulviyya Poladova

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Operating expenditure on Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas field reached approximately $2.002 billion in the third quarter of 2026, while capital expenditure totalled around $1.078 billion.

According to BP's third-quarter 2026 report, operating costs increased by 9% compared with the same period in 2025, while capital expenditure rose by 42.6%.

During the quarter, gas deliveries from Shah Deniz continued to markets in Azerbaijan (SOCAR), Georgia (GOGC) and Türkiye (BOTAŞ), as well as to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline facilities and buyers in Europe.

In the first nine months of 2026, the Shah Deniz Alpha and Shah Deniz Bravo platforms jointly produced approximately 20 billion standard cubic metres of gas and around 3 million tonnes of condensate, equivalent to approximately 21 million barrels. Compared with the same period last year, gas production declined by 4.8%, while condensate output fell by around 3 million barrels.

The existing Shah Deniz facilities currently have a production capacity of approximately 79 million standard cubic metres of gas per day, or around 28.8 billion cubic metres annually.

Work on the Shah Deniz 2 project continued during the quarter, including subsea operations on wells at the eastern-northern flank. In September, the fourth well at this flank was brought online.

The Khankendi vessel remained primarily engaged in Shah Deniz 2 operations. During the first nine months of the year, it also carried out subsea intervention work at several wells in the Deepwater Gunashli area of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) field. These operations aimed to identify opportunities to improve reservoir pressure management and increase production.

Meanwhile, the Tofiq Ismayilov diving support vessel provided maintenance, inspection and intervention services for subsea production facilities at Shah Deniz 2 and ACG.

Work on the Shah Deniz Compression (SDC) project also progressed safely and ahead of schedule during the third quarter. By the end of September, the project had recorded more than four million working hours without a lost-time injury.

A major milestone was reached in October with the completion of offshore tubular pile installation, marking the beginning of offshore construction. Four piles, which will form the foundation of the SDC platform's jacket, were transported offshore and installed by the Khankendi subsea construction vessel.

The installation campaign also marked the first use of pile-plug technology in BP's Caspian operations.

Valued at $2.9 billion, the Shah Deniz Compression project is designed to unlock lower-pressure gas reserves and maximise recovery from the field. It is expected to enable the production and export of approximately 50 billion cubic metres of additional gas and nearly 25 million barrels of additional condensate.

The project includes the construction of a new electrically powered, normally unmanned compression platform, known as an eNUI, as well as associated facilities at the Shah Deniz contract area and modifications to existing infrastructure at the Shah Deniz Alpha and Bravo platforms and the Sangachal Terminal.

Construction is scheduled for completion in 2029. The platform is expected to be ready to receive and compress gas from Shah Deniz Alpha in 2029 and from Shah Deniz Bravo in 2030.

During the third quarter, drilling of the SDA12 well at the Shah Deniz Alpha platform was completed.

A total of 24 wells have been drilled under Shah Deniz 2. These include five wells at the northern flank, five at the western flank, four at the south-eastern flank, five at the south-western flank and five at the north-eastern flank.