BP Increased Gas Production from the Shah Deniz Field by 11% in January-September
The BP-Azerbaijan company produced 20 billion cubic meters of gas from the Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea in January-September 2023, which is 11% higher than the figure for 9 months of 2022, the company’s press service told Interfax-Azerbaijan.
The Shah Deniz field also produced approximately 27 million barrels of condensate (more than 3 million tons), which corresponds to the figure for 9 months of last year.
“Currently, the field’s production capacity is approximately 72.1 million cubic meters per day or more than 26.3 billion cubic meters per year,” the company reported.
The costs of the Shah Deniz consortium in January-September 2023 as part of the development of this field amounted to $2 billion 391 million (an increase of 14.6%). At the same time, operating costs for the project exceeded $1 billion 738 million, capital costs – $653 million. The main amount of costs fell on work within the framework of Stage 2 of the development of the Shah Deniz field.
The company also reported that during this period, transportation through the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP or Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum – IF) averaged 60.5 million cubic meters of gas per day (in January-September 2022 – 56.1 million cubic meters per day). Operating costs for maintenance of SCP in January-September 2023 amounted to $49 million, capital costs exceeded 4.5 million.
The contract for the development of the Shah Deniz field was signed in Baku on June 4, 1996 and ratified by the Milli Majlis on October 17 of the same year.
The parties’ share in the contract is currently as follows: bp (operator – 29.99%), Cenub Qaz Dehlizi CJSC (21.02%), LUKOIL (19.99%), TPAO (19%), NICO (10%).
Currently, gas and condensate production from the Shah Deniz field is carried out from the Alpha platform as part of Stage-1 and from the Bravo platform as part of Stage-2. Gas production from the Shah Deniz field began in December 2006.
In 2022, 25.2 billion cubic meters of gas (+11.5% of the 2021 figure) and 4.4 million tons of condensate (+4.8%) were produced from the Shah Deniz field.
The SCP is a component of the Southern Gas Corridor. The pipeline has been in operation since late 2006, transporting Azerbaijani gas from Stage 1 of the Shah Deniz field development to Georgia, and since July 2007 to Turkey. Since 2019, the pipeline’s throughput capacity has been 29 million cubic meters of gas per day. In 2020, gas supplies to Europe began via the pipeline.
The length of the pipeline is 691 km, of which 443 km are in Azerbaijan and 248 km in Georgia.
Shareholders of SCP Co. are: BP (29.99%), TPAO (19%), CJSC “Cenub Qaz Dehlizi” (21.02%), LUKOIL (19.99%), NIKO (10%).
