BP To Start New SD2 Wells Next Month
Three new wells at Shah Deniz stage 2 (SD2) will become operational this October, operator BP said Sep.11.
SD2 started production from a single well on July 31 with a 1.5mn m3/d (53mn ft3/yr) flow; the second well should have been operational in mid-August but was postponed.
Each well will produce as much as the first, BP’s regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey Gary Jones said in response to an NGW question at a press conference in Baku.
Azerbaijan plans to produce 2bn m3 from SD2 in July 2018-July 2019 and exports to Turkey, of which a quarter by December 2018. Last year Azerbaijan delivered 6.5bn m3 gas to Turkey from SD1.
The SD2 offshore project includes the Bravo platform, 26 subsea wells, 500km of subsea pipes; its final plateau production capacity of 16bn m3/yr is scheduled for 2020.
Azerbaijan’s state-run Socar also plans to increase its own produced gas exports to Georgia. It announced Sep.3 that deliveries to Georgia will increase by 29% on year to 1.8bn m3. Russia started 100% cash transit fee paying to Georgia for its exports to Armenia. Georgia also bought 0.105bn m3 from Russia last year but no longer plans to import from there; instead it plans to import all its gas from Azerbaijan.
Georgia will also receive 5% of Shah Deniz stage 1+2 gas flows intended for Turkey as its transit fee.
Despite gas production growth and gas exports, Azerbaijan continues to import gas, with its imports rising by 80% year on year in 1H2018 to 1.41bn m3. Statistics obtained by NGW from Socar and BP showed that gross gas production rose by 2.7% to 14.498bn m³ in 1H2018 as more gas was re-injected in order to take advantage of oil prices.
(Banner photo shows the topsides at the SD2 platform, courtesy of BP)