Baku, August 28, AZERTAC

“Shah Deniz is proudly celebrating 200 billion cubic metres of total gas production since the start. The milestone was achieved on 26 August 2023 - 16-and-a-half-years after we first announced the start-up of commercial gas production from the field and start-up of operations of the South Caucasus Pipeline,” bp Azerbaijan told AZERTAC.

First production from the field, which was announced on 15 December 2006, marked the start of Stage 1 of the field development and since then Stage 1 gas has been successfully and reliably delivered to markets in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Türkiye.

The next big development milestone of Shah Deniz was achieved in 2018 - the year of the commencement of commercial gas deliveries to Türkiye from Shah Deniz 2 and the achievement of first gas production from the Shah Deniz Bravo platform at the end of July.

The start-up of Stage 2 enabled Shah Deniz to become a major gas supplier to Europe for the first time in Azerbaijan’s energy history. The first volumes of Shah Deniz gas started to flow to European markets in December 2020 providing a new source of energy supply for Europe diversifying its energy market and strengthening its energy security. In total, Stage 2 supplies 16 billion cubic metres of gas per year to markets in Türkiye and Europe via the Southern Gas Corridor.

2023 marks yet another year of progress for Shah Deniz. This year will see additional Shah Deniz 2 wells come online as the East North flank starts up in the fourth quarter of the year.

Today, the average daily production from the Shah Deniz Alfa and Shah Deniz Bravo platforms in total is 72.6 million cubic metres of gas and this is received from 11 Alfa and 14 Bravo wells.

Elkhan Mammadov, bp’s vice president production, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Türkiye region, said:

“We in bp are very proud of Shah Deniz. It is a world-class and yet one of the most challenging reservoirs. Despite the complexities we have faced in developing this giant gas field, we have been able to demonstrate that we can drill the most challenging wells in one of the most complex basins and build world-class infrastructure to directly connect the field with regional and global markets.

“In particular, we are proud to have achieved all this in a safe, environmentally sound and efficient way. Shah Deniz is a valuable asset that supports our own and Azerbaijan’s energy transition efforts as we work towards delivering our net zero ambition.

"We believe Shah Deniz has a great future. We are currently drilling a new well at Shah Deniz at the ‘pre-Fasila’ horizon, which lies below the existing production layer. We are hopeful that the well will open up new development opportunities underpinning our plans for building a long production life for Shah Deniz.”

Shah Deniz is the starting point of the Southern Gas Corridor, which delivers Caspian resources directly to European gas markets for the first time. Shah Deniz – located in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea - is the largest ever gas discovery made by bp. The giant field covers approximately 860 square kilometres. The Shah Deniz field was discovered in 1999. The estimation of gas initially in place of the whole Shah Deniz field is over 1 trillion cubic metres of gas and 2 billion barrels of condensate. Since its start-up, Shah Deniz has delivered 42.4 million tonnes (342 million barrels) of condensate. Shah Deniz 2 represents the first subsea field development in the Caspian Sea - the largest and most complex subsea infrastructure which bp operates in the world. Shah Deniz has had an excellent safety record and, as an environmentally sound project, it has conducted around 20 environmental impact assessments and 54 offshore, onshore and near-shore monitoring surveys since start.