BP and its co-venturers in the Shah Deniz consortium today announced their new programme to support Turkey’s Middle East Technical University (METU) in providing technical training and international certification to Turkish engineers.
Under this programme, funding from the Shah Deniz consortium will enable a technical training and certification programme to be run at METU. The technical training will be focused on quality assurance for pipelines and gas transportation systems, in such areas as mechanical engineering, materials, and civil/structural engineering. The international certifications will focus on areas such as non-destructive testing (NDT), welding, inspections, electrical and instrumentation, and corrosion.
Rashid Javanshir, BP’s President for the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey Region, said: “With the implementation of the Shah Deniz Full Field Development project, gas from the Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan will not only be exported to existing markets in Georgia and Turkey, but also to customers in Europe. Turkey has a critical importance in the transit value chain. As Turkey takes on this new role and becomes an energy hub for Europe, it must undertake important new projects, such as expansion of the current natural gas network or building new pipelines and storage facilities. The success of Turkey in the gas value chain lies in efficiency, reliability and integrity of its gas transmission systems, and this lies in the hands of qualified manpower. We are very pleased to have this opportunity to support this outstanding Turkish university in training engineers who we believe will significantly contribute to Turkey’s efforts as it undertakes this new critical role.”
A formal agreement will be signed with METU over the coming weeks, and the programme will start in early 2012. The project will be coordinated by METU’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering Department, and the facilities of the University will be used for both theoretical and laboratory sessions of the training. The programme is expected to run for four years, and result in training more than 300 pre-qualified, internationally certified pipeline engineers.
Shah Deniz participating interests are: BP (operator – 25.5%), Statoil (25.5%), SOCAR (10%), LUKOIL (10%), NICO (10%), Total (10%), and TPAO (9%).
Notes to Editors
Shah Deniz Stage 2, or Full Field Development (FFD), is a giant project that will bring gas from Azerbaijan to Europe and Turkey. This will increase gas supply and energy security to European markets through the opening of the new southern gas corridor.
The project is expected to add a further 16 billion cubic meters per year (bcma) of gas production to the approximately 9 bcma from Shah Deniz Stage 1. It is one of the largest gas development projects anywhere in the world.
Plans for the project include two new bridge-linked offshore platforms; 26 subsea wells to be drilled with 2 semi-submersible rigs; 500 km of subsea pipelines built at up to 550m water depth; additional export capacity in Azerbaijan and Georgia; expansion of the Sangachal Terminal.
Proposals for the transportation of gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe are now being evaluated by the Shah Deniz consortium with an award expected around the end of the year. Bids were submitted by October 1 from Nabucco, Trans-Adriatic Pipeline and IGI-Poseidon. In addition, the Shah Deniz project team are also evaluating a fourth potential export option which would transport gas to markets in South-Eastern Europe through a system of regional existing and future interconnector infrastructure.
October 25, 2011 marked an important milestone which will support the continued development of Shah Deniz 2 project towards a final investment decision. Azerbaijan and Turkey signed a number of key gas export related agreements to enable Turkey to buy gas from Azerbaijan and to transit Azerbaijan gas through Turkey to Europe. These agreements will allow Shah Deniz to proceed with its European pipeline selection process, and to confirm gas sales agreements with potential customers.
Tamam Bayatly at BP’s Press Office in Baku, telephone: 994 (0) 12 599 4557
Murat Lecompte in BP’s Istanbul Press Office, telephone: 90 216 571 20 02
Toby Odone in BP’s London Press Office, telephone: 44 20 7496 4076