Baku, Azerbaijan, April 1
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
Work has begun on the construction of the upper modules of extraction and technology platforms, including a residential unit within the second stage of the development of the Shah Deniz gas condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, a source in the oil and gas market told Trend.
The construction of the upper modules for the platforms will be provided by the AMEC-Tekfen-Azfen (ATA) consortium, according to the source.
Gas within the second stage of the field's development will be exported to Turkey and the European markets through expansion of the South Caucasus gas pipeline and construction of the TANAP and TAP gas pipelines.
Within the Shah Deniz project, the annual production of gas will increase from nine billion cubic meters in the first phase to an additional 16 billion cubic meters in the second phase.
The separate parts of the structures were cut into pieces, according to the source.
These operations started as part of the topside construction contract.
"The first part has been cut today," the source said. "The operations on the topside construction started as part of this ambitious project."
Along with this, the ATA consortium is also continuing to work on the expansion of the building sites in order to fulfil the entire volume of work provided for under the contract.
Earlier the development operator of Shah Deniz project- BP announced the signing of a contract with the ATA consortium totalling $974 million within the Shah Deniz-2 project. The contract was signed in Baku on December 17 after the final investment decision on the project.
Under the contract within five years it is envisaged there will be construction to the upper modules of the production and technological platforms including a residential unit. The contractor is responsible for implementation of all these procedures before commissioning.
Shah Deniz reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.
Participants in the development of the Shah Deniz field are SOCAR (the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) with a share of 16.7 per cent, British BP (28.8 per cent), Norway's Statoil (15.5 per cent), Iran's NICO (10 per cent) , French Total (10 per cent), Russia's Lukoil (10 per cent), Turkish TPAO (nine per cent).
The cost of the second stage of Shah Deniz development is estimated at $28 billion.
Translated by S.I.
Edited by S.M.
