83% of work on 'Shah Deniz -2' project completed

Baku. 18 November. REPORT.AZ/ During the three quarters of 2016, implementation of the 'Shah Deniz-2' project continued successfully. Report informs referring to BP-Azerbaijan. The project is now over 83% complete in terms of engineering, procurement and construction, and remains on target for first gas from 'Shah Deniz-2' in 2018.

Project activities continue at all offshore and onshore sites and fabrication yards of the country including the Sangachal Terminal, ATA (AMEC/Tekfen/Azfen) yard near Baku, Baku Deepwater Jackets Factory (BDJF) and along the pipeline route.

In September, a significant milestone was achieved in the project with the sail away of the jacket for one of the 'Shah Deniz-2' platforms from the BDJF yard for offshore installation. The official sail away ceremony, which was held at BDJF, was attended by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. To date the transportation, launch, and positioning activities of the Production and Risers (PR) platform jacket structure have been completed safely while pile installation is still ongoing.

The pipelaybarge Israfil Huseynov has completed installation of all four North Flank and West Flank flowlines and is currently making progress on the remaining 32’’ gas export lines – this scope of work will continue through into the first quarter of 2017.

The subsea construction vessel Khankendi has continued good progress and started up its main engines in September. Once completed, this new vessel will be deployed to the 'Shah Deniz-2' area for the construction of the subsea structures.

At the ATA yard, construction of both 'Shah Deniz-2' platform topsides is well above 90% complete and commissioning is progressing. The flare tower has been safely installed on the Production and Risers platform.

In the third quarter of 2016, over 24,000 people were involved in construction activities across all main contracts in Azerbaijan and over 80% of them were Azerbaijani nationals.