During the third quarter of 2017, implementation of the Shah Deniz Stage 2 project continued successfully. The project is now over 97 percent complete for first gas, in terms of engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning and remains on target for first gas from Shah Deniz Stage 2 in 2018.
Report informs referring to the report of BP-Azerbaijan, operator of the Shah Deniz field on behalf of its partners over the three quarters of this year.
Project activities continue at offshore and onshore sites including the Sangachal Terminal and along the pipeline route.
On 6 September, a new flagship vessel for the Caspian – Khankendi was launched. The state-of-the-art subsea construction vessel has been specifically designed and built to install the biggest subsea production system in the Caspian Sea as part of the Shah Deniz Stage 2 project. The official inauguration of the new $378 million vessel took place in Baku in an event which was attended by H.E. President Ilham Aliyev of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Khankendi is now deployed to the Shah Deniz field where it is expected to perform subsea installation and construction work over the next eleven years.
On 15 September, the second topsides unit built for the Shah Deniz Stage 2 project – the topsides of the Production and Risers (PR) platform sailed away for offshore installation. This followed the safe and successful sail away and offshore installation of the Quarters and Utilities (QU) platform topsides in early June.
The PR platform topsides unit, which was completed ahead of schedule, sailed away to the Shah Deniz contract area in the Caspian Sea from the Azfen fabrication yard in Bibi-Heybat. The transportation, float-over and installation activities were carefully planned and took six days to complete. The unit now has been installed on top of the PR jacket which was already at its offshore location in a water depth of 94 metres waiting for the deck.
The expansion of the Sangachal terminal – already one of the world’s largest oil and gas terminals – is progressing well with the plans to be able to process the additional gas volumes from Shah Deniz Stage 2.
At the peak of project activities, over 24,000 people were involved in construction works across all main contracts in Azerbaijan and over 80% of them were Azerbaijani nationals.
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