Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli: BP seeks to extend peak production at Shah Deniz

In 2023, natural gas production at the Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea will reach its peak level, that is, up to 26 billion cubic meters of gas per year. The project operator BP aims to extend the peak production period as long as possible, Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli, Vice President of BP for External Relations and Communications in the Caspian region, told Report.

According to him, to fulfill the annual forecast, daily indicators are taken as the basis: "At the Shah Deniz-2 field, the peak production level will reach 16 billion cubic meters per year. The operator's goal is to extend the period of production at the peak, the company is working in this direction."

Aslanbayli stressed that the operator of Shah Deniz and Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG), which are two large-scale BP projects in Azerbaijan, also continues exploration drilling in these areas to expand the resource base.

"Drilling an exploratory well at the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) field in order to determine the reserves of deep-seated gas reservoirs has already been completed. At present, discussions are underway with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan SOCAR on technical and commercial questions based on the data received," he noted.

He also said that now the drilling of an exploratory well at the Shah Deniz field, which should also allow estimating gas reserves in deep layers continues. "But this is an annual program, the results will be received only by the end of the year, after which their interpretation will begin," he added.