Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 9
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
Work on the modernization of a large crane barge "Azerbaijan" within the framework of the second stage of development of the Shah Deniz large gas condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea is nearing completion in Azerbaijan, a source on oil and gas market of the country told Trend Sept. 9.
The crane barge is the third of the ships that were to be renovated within the framework of the contract concluded by Shah Deniz consortium with the BOS Shelf LLC, Saipem Contracting Netherlands BV and Star Gulf FZCO companies, according to the source.
"The work on upgrading the ship nears its end," the source said. "It is difficult to give an exact date when the vessel will be ready for testing, but it will happen in the near future. This is a very important step for the Shah Deniz-2. With the help of this vessel it will be possible to accelerate the installation of marine platforms, supporting units as well as the construction of underwater pipelines."
The contract worth $1.8 billion on the offshore transport and installation of both jackets and topside units, subsea production systems and subsea structures, as well as the laying of over 360 kilometers of subsea pipelines, diving support services, the upgrade of three installation vessels - the pipe lay barge "Israfil Huseynov", the diving support vessel "Tofiq Ismayilov" and the derrick barge "Azerbaijan" was signed in April 2014.
Earlier, regional president of BP for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey Gordon Birrell said that the work on modernization of "Israfil Huseynov" pipe laying barge has been completed and it would be able to start the underwater pipe laying work in coming days.
As part of the implementation of the Shah Deniz project, the annual gas production volume will increase from 9 billion cubic meters (within the first phase) by additional 16 billion cubic meters in the second phase. Two offshore platforms will be installed and over 20 subsea wells will be drilled to produce additional volumes of gas within Shah Deniz-2 project.
As part of the second stage of the field's development, gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus gas pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic (TAP) gas pipelines.
The volume of gas produced at Shah Deniz field stood at 5.2 billion cubic meters in the first half of 2015, while the volume of condensate production at this field totaled 1.2 million metric tons (9.8 million barrels), compared to 4.75 billion cubic meters of gas and 1.12 million metric tons of condensate in the same period of 2014.
The contract for development of the Shah Deniz offshore field was signed on June 4, 1996. The field's reserve is estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. The shareholders are: BP, operator (28.8 percent), AzSD (10 percent), SGC Upstream (6.7 percent), Petronas (15.5 percent), Lukoil (10 percent), NICO (10 percent) and TPAO (19 percent).
Edited by CN
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