Offshore staff
BAKU, Azerbaijan – The Shah Deniz field partners have started to evaluate final bids received for transportation of Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas in the Caspian Sea to Europe.
These came from the Nabucco Gas Pipeline International and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) consortia, and include detailed information on the technical, regulatory, financial, and other aspects of both projects.
According to Shah Deniz operator BP, the partners will assess both offers for commerciality, project deliverability, financial deliverability, engineering design, alignment and transparency, operability, scalability, and public policy considerations.
A decision on the preferred export route to Europe is expected by end-June.
The transportation offers should become legally binding by the end of April. Over the next few weeks theShah Deniz partners also expect to receive binding gas sales offers from buyers in Europe.
Shah Deniz Stage 2 should add a further 16 bcm/yr (565 bcf/yr) of gas production to the 9 bcm/yr (318 bef/yr) currently flowing from Shah Deniz Stage 1.
New facilities will likely include two new bridge-linked production platforms; 26 subsea wells to be 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 overland 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.
4/5/2013
