The Shah Deniz consortium announced the award of a major automation contract for the Shah Deniz Compression (SDC) project to Emerson, Report informs, citing BP Azerbaijan.
The contract covers the delivery of integrated control and safety systems for remote operations of the SDC platform, including process control, safety shutdown, fire and gas detection, and power management systems.
Together, these systems will enable real-time visibility and remote control of critical platform operations, helping to enhance safety, reliability and operational efficiency while reducing operating costs and supporting long-term performance.
The award of this contract marks an important milestone in the delivery of the SDC project. The automation and control systems will be a critical component of the unmanned SDC platform, supporting its safe and effective operation throughout its lifecycle.
"This milestone comes as the overall project continues to make strong progress, with around 30% completion achieved to date and around 2,700 people currently mobilized. Engineering and fabrication activities are advancing as planned across multiple work fronts, drawing strongly on Azerbaijan's resources, expertise and industrial capabilities as we continue to move the project forward," said Ilgar Mammadov, BP project general manager.
The SDC project will play a key role in maximizing recovery from the Shah Deniz field, enabling access to additional gas resources and helping sustain production over the long term.
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 are currently progressing, 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.