BP resumes gas production at Shah Deniz field

24 August 2015 13:14 (UTC+04:00)

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By Aynur Karimova

BP resumed natural gas production at the Shah Deniz largest gas condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea on the evening of August 23, Tamam Bayatli, the head of the press service of the BP-Azerbaijan company, told Trend on August 24.

The work on the platform was suspended on August 2, 2015 for about 20 days to enable efficient maintenance, inspection and project work to be undertaken.

BP then said this was a routine, planned program and was part of normal operations.

Exxon - 8 percent, TPAO - 6.75 percent, Itocu - 4.3 percent and ONGC - 2.72 percent.

The Shah Deniz field, one of the world's largest gas-condensate fields, was discovered in 1999. Its reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. Overall, the field has proven to be a secure and reliable supplier of gas to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and Europe.

The gas produced at the second stage of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field development will be the main source of the Southern Gas Corridor, which envisages the transportation of the Caspian gas to the European markets.

The second stage of Shah Deniz field development started in December 2013. The total amount of investments provided by the operating consortium (BP-28.83 percent, TPAO-19 percent, Petronas-15.5 percent; SOCAR-10 percent, Lukoil-10 percent, NICO-10 percent and SGC-6.67 percent) will be approximately $28 billion, excluding the construction of the export pipeline systems.

BP will build and operate the project facilities. Production from the project is expected to begin in 2018 and will help provide jobs for over 16,000 people through to 2022. The annual total Shah Deniz Stage 1 and Stage 2 production will peak at 25 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova