Production on North Flank of Shah Deniz 2 to begin this year

In the third quarter of 2021, the Shah Deniz 2 project in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea reached full production rates from the East South flank following its safe start-up in the second quarter of the year, Report informs referring to the business update from the field operator BP Azerbaijan and its partners in the third quarter of this year.

As a result of the production ramp-up from the East South flank, in July 2021, the daily production rates of the Shah Deniz Bravo platform reached the Shah Deniz Alpha rates for the first time.

On the West South flank, the pipelay barge Israfil Huseynov completed the subsea pipeline construction activities in the third quarter. The scope was delivered ahead of schedule with the barge achieving its best-ever performance and highest productivity. This has allowed commencing subsea pipelaying activities on the East North flank in 2021, originally planned for the second quarter of 2022.

Overall, all West South subsea installation activities are progressing on schedule for the production start-up planned for the middle of 2022.

In the third quarter, the project also continued preparation activities for the production start-up from the final 5th well on the North Flank planned for the fourth quarter of 2021.

Besides, during the third quarter of 2021, the Shah Deniz Alpha platform rig was on a warm stack.

The Istiglal and Maersk Explorer rigs have already drilled 21 wells in total and completed 19 out of those for Shah Deniz 2 production and subsequent ramp-up. The completed wells include five wells on the North Flank, four wells on the West Flank, four wells on the East South Flank, four wells on the West South Flank and two wells on the East North flank. One well on the West South flank and one well on the East North flank were drilled to final depth and suspended.

This year, Shah Deniz celebrates its 25th anniversary since the signing of the Shah Deniz Production Sharing Agreement (PSA). The PSA was signed on 4 June 1996 between SOCAR and a consortium of foreign companies. It was ratified by the Milli Majlis and became effective on 17 October the same year. The project is the second after ACG's largest foreign direct investment made in Azerbaijan and as such it has further strengthened the country’s economy. The Shah Deniz 25th anniversary marks an important milestone in the new history of Azerbaijan’s oil and gas industry.

Shah Deniz participating interests are: bp (operator – 28.83%), TPAO (19.0%), PETRONAS (15.5%), AzSD (10.0%), LUKOIL (10.0%), NICO (10.0%) and SGC Upstream (6.67%).