Offshore staff
BAKU, Azerbaijan – BP and its partners have approved the start of front-end engineering and design (FEED) on the $25-billion Shah Deniz Stage 2 project in the Caspian Sea.
The Shah Deniz field, 70 km (43 mi) offshore, contains estimated resources of more than 30 tcf of gas.
Currently, Shah Deniz Stage 1 delivers around 9 bcm/yr, but Shah Deniz 2 should add 16 bcm/yr for export to markets in Turkey and Europe, opening up a ‘southern gas corridor.’ The target for start-up is toward end-2017.
Stage 2 will likely feature two new bridge-linked production platforms; 26 subsea wells (drilled by two semisubmersible rigs); 500 km (310 mi) of subsea pipelines in water depths of up to 550 m (1,804 ft); a 16 bcm/yr upgrade for the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP); and expansion of the Sangachal terminal.
Further pipelines will be built and expanded to transport Shah Deniz gas through Turkey and Europe.
BP says gas sales and transit agreements were signed last October with the Turkish pipeline company BOTAS and the Turkish Government. Since then, further agreements have been signed to allow engineering studies to start for the Trans Anatolia Pipeline to transport gas across Turkey.
Three routes to Europe are under consideration: theTrans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) via Italy; Nabucco West taking gas from the Turkish-European border through Eastern Europe to the West; and the South East Europe Pipeline (SEEP) taking gas through Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania.
The Shah Deniz consortium will determine their final route selection in 2013.
4/19/2012
