BP starts gas flow from new Shah Deniz flank
BP and its partners at the Shah Deniz 2 (SD2) gas field off the coast of Azerbaijan have started production at the deposit's East South deepwater flank, the UK major reported on July 6.
The project will produce 400mn ft3/day (4.13bn m3/year) at full capacity, which expected to be reached sometime in the third quarter, bring the field's overall production rate to "well over" 2.4bn ft3/d, or 24.8bn m3/yr.
The extra gas will help the Shah Deniz consortium fulfil its existing sales and purchase agreements, BP said. SD2 came on stream in 2018 and flows its gas to Turkey and Europe via the Southern Gas Corridor, whose final section, the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, started delivering gas at the start of this year.
"This is the biggest milestone we had planned to achieve in Shah Deniz this year and we are very proud to have achieved it safely, on schedule and within the budget despite the challenges and restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic," Gary Jones, BP's regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, said in a statement.
The Shah Deniz consortium comprises BP as operator with 28.8%, Turkey's TPAO with 19%, Azerbaijan's SOCAR with 16.7%, Malaysia's Petronas with 15.5% and Russia's Lukoil and Iran's NICO each with 10%. The Shah Deniz 1 field has been in operation since 2008 and pumps gas to Georgia and Turkey, although a supply contract with Turkey's Botas expired in mid-April.
In related news, BP said on July 1 it had produced an environmental and socio-economic impact assessment (ESIA) for a second well at an exploration project offshore Azerbaijan, the Shallow Water Absheron Peninsula (SWAP) block. It published an ESIA for a first well in August 2020 and will submit one for a third in the future.
BP originally hoped to kick off its drilling campaign at SWAP in 2019, but had to wait until the Kazakhstan-owned Satti jack-up rig had undergone necessary upgrades. The company said in its latest update it expected to start drilling this year.