Shah Deniz – celebrating 30th anniversary of project that changed energy map of the region
Baku, June 4, AZERTAC
Shah Deniz is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2026. This is an important milestone for the Government of Azerbaijan, bp and Shah Deniz partners.
According to bp, in 2025, the field produced around 27 billion standard cubic metres of gas and about 4 million tonnes (around 32 million barrels) of condensate in total from the Shah Deniz Alpha and Shah Deniz Bravo platforms.
Since the start of production till the end of 1Q 2026, Shah Deniz produced 271 billion cubic metres of gas and about 53 million tonnes of condensate.
Shah Deniz wells rank among the top in bp’s global portfolio, with 17 of the company’s 20 highest-producing wells coming from the field, underscoring its exceptional reservoir quality and operational excellence.
The current top producer Shah Deniz well produces 28 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day.
A total of 34 wells – 11 on Shah Deniz 1 and 23 on Shah Deniz 2 – have been drilled to date. Out of them, 32 wells are currently producing.
Around 271 bcm of Shah Deniz gas has been exported through SCP and SCPx since 2006, including the domestic market.
Capital expenditure in the Shah Deniz project by the end of 1Q 2026 was $31 billion.
Shah Deniz has had an excellent safety record and, as an environmentally sound project, it has conducted around 16 Environmental Impact Assessments and 98 offshore, onshore and near-shore monitoring surveys since start.
The Shah Deniz Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) was signed in Baku three decades ago, on 4 June 1996, between SOCAR and a group of foreign companies. It was ratified by the Milli Majlis and became effective on 17 October the same year.
The Shah Deniz field was discovered in 1999. It lies in water depths between 50 metres and 600 metres, some 70 kilometres southeast of Baku. The field has a reservoir depth of more than 1,000 metres and is 22 km long.
Shah Deniz is one of the largest gas fields in the world stretching out over 140 square kilometres and with approximately 1 trillion cubic metres of gas and 2 billion barrels of condensate initially in place.
First production from Shah Deniz was achieved in 2006, reaching its 20-year milestone this year.
On 17 December 2013, the Shah Deniz consortium announced the final investment decision (FID) for the Shah Deniz 2 development. The second phase of the Shah Deniz development came online in 2018.
For almost 20 years, Shah Deniz has proved to be a secure and reliable supplier of gas to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Türkiye through the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP).
With the completion of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) in December 2020, Shah Deniz has become a new source of energy supply for Europe providing natural gas from the Caspian to European customers thousands of miles away.
The discovery and development of Shah Deniz have underpinned Azerbaijan’s increasing role as a major regional and international gas supplier adding to the country’s oil and gas revenues for decades to come. The project has brought the largest foreign direct investment to Azerbaijan and further strengthened the country’s economy. Azerbaijan has gained new onshore assets, offshore facilities end export infrastructure – all built to international standards using advanced technology.
The Shah Deniz 30th anniversary marks an important milestone in the new history of Azerbaijan’s oil and gas industry. It is also a historical date for SOCAR, bp and all other partners in the Shah Deniz PSA.
Shah Deniz participating interests are: bp (operator – 29.99%), LUKOIL (19.99%), TPAO (19.00%), SGC (16.02%), NICO (10.0%) and MVM (5.00%).
Other news in this section
