Site traffic information and cookies

We use cookies to collect and analyse information on our site's performance and to enable the site to function. Cookies also allow us and our partners to show you relevant ads when you visit our site and other 3rd party websites, including social networks. You can choose to allow all cookies by clicking ‘Allow all’ or manage them individually by clicking ‘Manage cookie preferences,’ where you will also find more information.

Manage cookie preferences
Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Who we are
  3. Operations and projects
  4. Terminals
  5. Sangachal terminal

Sangachal terminal

 

Learn more about the terminal which is the largest onshore hub where offshore oil and gas is processed prior to export

Key facts
  • Area: more than 688 hectares
  • Location: 55 km south of Baku in Garadakh district
  • Processing capacity: 1.2 million barrels of oil per day and about 81 million standard cubic metres of Shah Deniz gas
  • Maximum storage capacity: about 4 million barrels
  • Working storage capacity: about 3.2 million barrels

Located 55km south of Baku, the Sangachal terminal is a vital link in Azerbaijan’s oil and gas industry. It is an oil and gas terminal that receives, processes, stores and exports crude oil and gas produced from all currently operated bp assets in the Caspian basin and has room for expansion. The terminal includes oil and gas processing facilities, the first pump station for the Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline and South Caucasus gas pipeline (SCP) compressor and other facilities.

 

The oil and gas from the offshore fields flow through the subsea pipelines into the terminal and they stretch across the entire length of the terminal. There are eight different pipelines entering the terminal from offshore locations and eight leaving it. They head off in different directions carrying premium quality Azerbaijani crude oil and gas to the world markets. In addition, the terminal receives third party oil from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

 

Sangachal terminal covers an area of more than 688 hectares, which makes it one of the world's largest oil and gas terminals, and consists of two main parts: the Early Oil Project (EOP) and Sangachal Terminal Expansion Programme (STEP).

 

EOP part of the terminal has been constructed to process, store and export oil from the Chirag offshore field in the Caspian (the so-called Early Oil Project). This part of the terminal houses 4 crude oil storage tanks - 25,500 barrels each and can process, store and export in excess of 6 million tonnes of crude oil per year.

 

STEP is the part of the terminal which has been expanded to receive, store and process oil from Azeri and Deepwater Gunashli sections of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field and gas from the Shah Deniz field. It houses a number of facilities including 3 crude oil storage tanks with 880,000 barrels capacity each, ACG oil processing facilities, or trains.

Sangachal terminal also hosts two critical facilities for the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline: the head pump station and the control room. The latter monitors the entire pipeline and can detect problems and isolate the necessary pipeline sections across all three countries or shut down the plant in case of emergency.

 

bp is the operator of the terminal.

 

In the first half of 2025, oil and gas from ACG and Shah Deniz continued to flow via subsea pipelines to the Sangachal terminal..

 

The daily capacity of the terminal’s processing systems is currently 1.2 million barrels of crude oil and condensate, and about 81 million standard cubic metres of Shah Deniz gas, while overall processing and export capacity for gas, including ACG associated gas is around 100 million standard cubic metres per day.

 

During the first half of the year, the Sangachal terminal exported around 106 million barrels of oil and condensate, which was sent mainly through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline.

 

Gas is exported via the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP), including the SCP expansion system and via Azerbaijan’s pipelines connecting the terminal’s gas processing facilities with Azerigas’s national grid system.

 

On average, around 74 million standard cubic metres (about 2,616 million standard cubic feet) of Shah Deniz gas was sent from the terminal daily during the first half of 2025.

 

The terminal set to reduce emissions
 
On 2 June, the investors in the Sangachal terminal sanctioned the Sangachal terminal electrification (STEL) project. The $230 million project will enable the terminal to connect with Azerbaijan’s national grid operated by AzerEnerji, via new facilities to be built both within and outside the terminal, including a new 220/110 kV electricity substation.

 

The STEL project is closely linked to the Shafag project, a 240MW AC solar plant to be built in Jabrayil, via a new commercial structure called ‘virtual power transfer arrangement’. Based on this arrangement, the Shafag plant would produce power and deliver it to AzerEnerji in the Jabrayil district, while AzerEnerji would deliver an equivalent quantity of electricity to the Sangachal terminal near Baku. Together, the Shafag and STEL projects are expected to support the reduction of operational emissions by around 50% over the future life of the Sangachal terminal, based on the current outlook and plans.
 
The terminal currently uses seven gas turbines to generate the power it needs. Following the electrification, the turbines will be removed in phases, freeing up the fuel gas for export.

 

The STEL project will be developed and managed by bp as operator of the Sangachal terminal. Construction activities for STEL have already commenced with completion expected in two stages – Stage 1 in mid-2027, and Stage 2 by the end of 2028.