BP suspends production at Shah Deniz project

Jan. 10, 2007
BP PLC has halted gas and condensate production from its first production well at the Shah Deniz project because of a technical fault.

Uchenna Izundu
International Editor

LONDON, Jan. 10 -- BP PLC has halted gas and condensate production from its first production well at the Shah Deniz project because of a technical fault.

The $4.5 billion project, in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea, has encountered some unexpected problems with gas pressures in the well, the company said. Shah Deniz came on stream in mid-December and was shut down just before the end of that month.

"We hope to bring the project back on as soon as possible," a BP spokesman said, but declined to give a specific time frame.

Shah Deniz holds 25-35 tcf of gas and in Stage 1 is expected to produce 8.6 billion cu m/year of gas and 37,000 b/d of condensate, which will be shipped to Ceyhan, Turkey, for processing (OGJ, Aug. 21, 2000, p. 68).

Gas will be exported to Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey via the $1.3 billion, 700 MMcfd South Caucasian Pipeline. The line, also operated by BP, extends 430 miles from Baku to Tbilisi, Georgia, and Erzurum in eastern Turkey, paralleling the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.

The BP spokesman added that customers have not yet been affected in their supplies as the field was in the process of being ramped up.

Contact Uchenna Izundu at [email protected].