BP to cut Shah Deniz emissions by switching power source
BP and its partners at the Shah Deniz gas field off Azerbaijan are planning a project to enable the deposit's Alpha platform to receive its power from its Bravo platform via a subsea cable, estimating that this will reduce the field's significant emission rate by around 20,000 metric tons of CO2 annually.
The plan will improve the Alpha platform's operational efficiency, providing a robust, long-term and high-availability power supply, BP said on July 14. Currently the platform relies on five power generations designed to run on either gas or diesel. These units will be decommissioned once the cable is operational in 2024.
"This will be a substantial contribution to achieving our aim to reduce emissions from our oil and gas operations and is in line with what we aim to achieve globally by working to significantly reduce our operational emissions, aiming for net zero by 2050 or sooner," BP's vice president for projects for the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey region. "In addition, the project will help us achieve multiple other objectives by raising SDA’s operational efficiency and minimising commercial gas delivery interruption risks."
The Shah Deniz consortium recently awarded a front-end engineering design, turnaround engineering and procurement support services contract worth $5.7mn to a joint venture between Azerbaijan's SOCAR and KBR.
BP operates Shah Deniz with a 30$ interest, while Lukoil has 20%, Turkey's TPAO has 19%, SOCAR has 14.4%, Iran's NICO 10% and the Azeri-owned SGC 6.7%.