The Shah Deniz consortium has announced the award of another significant construction contract to further advance the Shah Deniz Compression (SDC) project, which was sanctioned earlier this year, bp told AZERTAC.
The $156 million contract covers the fabrication of the jacket and piles for the SDC platform and has been awarded to BOS Shelf LLC and BOS Shelf International FZCO (collectively referred to as BOS Shelf).
The contract scope of work includes shop and erection engineering, rolling of tubulars, fabrication and assembly of a 9,900-tonne jacket and 5,800-tonne pin and skirt piles, commissioning of installation systems, and load-out and sea-fastening of the completed jacket.
All fabrication activities will be carried out at the Heydar Aliyev Baku Deepwater Jackets Factory (BDJF) yard, owned by BOS Shelf, making full use of local infrastructure and resources. Up to 97% of the workforce involved in executing the contract is expected to be Azerbaijani nationals, with the total workforce contribution estimated at approximately 2 million work-hours. Work under the contract is scheduled to commence in the fourth quarter of 2025, with completion targeted for the first quarter of 2028.
“This marks another significant milestone for the SDC project and for bp as operator,” said Ilgar Mammadov, bp’s project general manager. “It reflects the skill and dedication of our teams, the strength of our enduring local partnerships, and our shared commitment to delivering this project to the highest standards of safety, quality, and efficiency.
The successful and timely fabrication of 11 previous jackets for the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli and Shah Deniz 2 platforms at BOS Shelf’s BDJF yard gives us strong confidence that the SDC platform jacket will also be delivered on schedule and within budget. The BDJF facility’s capability to integrate and load out the jacket without requiring major upgrades is a key factor in ensuring the timely completion of this critical part of the project.”
The $2.9 billion SDC project, the next stage of development of the giant Shah Deniz gas field, is designed to access and produce low pressure gas reserves in the field and maximize resources recovery.
The project is expected to enable around 50 billion cubic metres of additional gas and approximately 25 million barrels of additional condensate production and export from the Shah Deniz field.
The project involves installation of a new compression facility – an electrically-powered unmanned compression platform, or Normally Unattended Installation (eNUI). It will be installed in 85 metres water depth, approximately 3 kilometres from the existing Shah Deniz Bravo (SDB) platform.
With four 11-MW compressors onboard, the SDC platform is designed to serve as a host facility for gas compression from both the Shah Deniz Alpha (SDA) and SDB platforms, meaning that before flowing to the Sangachal terminal onshore, export gas from the platforms will be compressed at SDC.
The project also includes several associated facilities to be installed offshore in the Shah Deniz contract area, and additional brownfield works to be undertaken at SDA, SDB, and the Sangachal terminal.
Construction activities have already commenced, with completion expected in 2029 to be ready to receive first gas for compression from the SDA platform in 2029 and from the SDB platform in 2030.
