Shah Deniz Stage 2

The next phase of development of Shah Deniz – Shah Deniz 2 – was sanctioned in 2013 and has proved to be one of the largest and most complex gas projects in the world. It represents the first subsea development in the Caspian Sea and the largest subsea infrastructure operated by bp worldwide. Shah Deniz Stage 2, one of the largest gas developments in the world, is also a gateway to the Southern Gas Corridor(SGC) that delivers natural gas from the Caspian Sea directly to European markets for the first time.

Offshore, the Shah Deniz 2 project includes 26 subsea wells, 500km of subsea pipelines and flowlines and a new bridge-linked double platform. Gas is transported onshore through an 85 km pipeline to the Sangachal terminal, which underwent a major expansion to accommodate the new increased gas output. The project also expanded SCP - 428km of new pipeline in Azerbaijan and 59km in Georgia, including three new compression facilities pushing the gas across its 3,500 km long journey to Europe.

At plateau, Shah Deniz 2 will produce 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year (bcma). Together with output from the first phase of development, total production from the Shah Deniz field will be up to 26 bcma of gas and over 100,000 barrels of condensate a day.

With the launch of SGC, Shah Deniz commenced the delivery of significant new energy supplies to Europe, further diversifying its sources of energy and providing new supplies of natural gas which will be essential in the energy transition.

After achieving significant commissioning and completion milestones across the whole gas value chain at the beginning of 2018, the Southern Gas Corridor official inauguration event was held at the Sangachal Terminal on 29 May 2018. This was followed by the commencement of commercial gas deliveries to Turkey from the Shah Deniz 2 development project as planned on 30 June 2018.

On 30 July 2018, the wing valve on the North Flank subsea well SDC-03Z was opened, marking the first production from the Shah Deniz Bravo platform. This milestone marked the very first production from a subsea well in the Caspian, a significant achievement, which has been delivered safely, below budget and ahead of schedule. The Bravo facility is now exporting gas and condensate to the onshore terminal at Sangachal. 

On 31 December 2020, Shah Deniz celebrated a significant achievement by commencing first ever commercial gas deliveries to European markets via the newly-completed Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) pipeline system. The Shah Deniz field is the starting point of SGC and the commencement of gas deliveries to Europe from Shah Deniz marks the full integration of the entire SGC gas value chain, stretching 3,500 kilometres from Azerbaijan to Europe. With this important achievement Shah Deniz represents a new source of energy supply for Europe diversifying its energy market and strengthening its energy security.
 
In 2022, production from the West South flank started up as part of the Shah Deniz 2 project.

In the second quarter of 2023, the Shah Deniz 2 project progressed on schedule towards the production start-up from the East North flank in the fourth quarter of the year.

The installation and testing activities for this start-up project continued both subsea and on the topsides modules onboard the Shah Deniz Bravo platform. The project successfully completed flooding, cleaning, gauging and hydrotesting activities for the East North production flowlines, installed all flexible monobores at the East North flank and completed tie-ins of remaining closing spools at the Shah Deniz Bravo platform location.
 
Drilling
 
During the first half of the year, the Shah Deniz Alpha platform rig was on warm stack.

For the Shah Deniz 2 project, completion activities continue using the Istiglal rig.

In total 21 wells have been drilled for Shah Deniz 2. These include five wells on the North flank, four wells on the West flank, four wells on the East South flank, five wells on the West South flank and three wells on the East North flank.