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.

The current concept for Shah Deniz Stage 2 includes:

• two new bridge-linked offshore platforms.
• 26 gas production wells which will be drilled with 2 semi-submersible rigs.
• 500 km of subsea pipelines will link the wells with the onshore terminal.
• upgrade of the offshore construction vessels
• expansion of the Sangachal terminal to accommodate the new gas processing and compression facilities.

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.

The East South flank started up safely in the second quarter of 2021 and later in the year the flank reached its full production rates. As a result, in July 2021, the daily production rates of the Shah Deniz Bravo platform reached the Shah Deniz Alpha rates for the first time.

In the first half of 2022, the Shah Deniz 2 project progressed safely towards the production start-up from the West South flank in the third quarter. 

The subsea construction vessel Khankendi safely completed most of the subsea installation activities on the West South flank including the installation of subsea pipelines, production trees, manifolds and control umbilicals. The diving activities for pipeline tie-ins were also completed. 

The West South flank start-up project also progressed with the topsides construction activities on the Shah Deniz Bravo platform. These activities are currently nearing completion. The pre-commissioning and testing activities for both topsides and subsea parts of the project are progressing on schedule. The best practices and experience from the start-up of the first deep water flank - East South - are being widely applied throughout the West South flank construction activities.

Drilling

In 2022, the Shah Deniz Alpha rig conducted a set of well-work activities, underwent a planned maintenance programme (turnaround - TAR) and then went back on warm stack.

The Istiglal and Maersk Explorer rigs have already drilled 21 wells in total for the Shah Deniz 2 project. 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.