TotalEnergies expects to start phase two of Absheron field development by 2027
BAKU. June 3 (Interfax) - TotalEnergies , a participant in the project to develop the Absheron gas condensate field in Azerbaijan's sector of the Caspian Sea, plans to start work on the field's full-scale development by the end of 2026, the head of the French company's division in Azerbaijan, Emmanuel de Guillebon said.
For the past three years the company has been working in close cooperation with its partners, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co's (ADNOC) international investment arm XRG, resulting in the completion of design and engineering work on phase two of Absheron's development, Guillebon said at panel discussion at Baku Energy Week.
The company is now at the tender stage for all main contracts and plans to move to the implementation phase of the project by the end of this year, he said.
He said the concept for the project is based on an underwater development model. There are plans to drill three new wells about 140 km from the coast that are each expected to produce 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, of which about 30% will be condensate and 70% natural gas. Absheron is considered to be a gas field with high condensate content, Guillebon said.
Some of the gas from the field will be exported to Turkey, and the condensate will be sent through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline after stabilization, he added.
XRG country manager for Azerbaijan Tolga Demir said the final investment decision on Absheron's full-scale development is expected to be made in the coming months. Partners XRG, SOCAR and TotalEnergies are now producing about 4 million cubic meters of gas and 12,000 barrels of condensate per day from one well, he said.
It was reported earlier that the first gas under phase two is expected to be produced in September 2029.
The concept for phase two includes production at three main wells and the potential drilling of a fourth well, and delivery of the hydrocarbon through a multiphase underwater pipeline to a Central Processing Facility (CPF) that will be built onshore about four kilometers from UK oil and gas major BP plc's Sangachal Terminal. The gas and liquid phases will be separated to meet the entry specifications for the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP).
The CPF will be designed for an export capacity of 450 million cubic feet of gas and 38,000 barrels per day of unstabilized condensate, exported to BP's Sangachal Terminal. The conditioned gas will be exported through the SCP and supplied to Azerbaijan domestic gas network. Daily transmission through the domestic network will be 225 million cubic feet.
Once phase two plateaus, Absheron is expected to produce 12.7 million cubic meters of gas per day (4.5 billion cubic meters per year) and initially 35,000 bpd of condensate in addition to phase one production.
The Absheron field is located 100 km from Baku at a depth of 500 meters, with the contract area covering 747 square km. The initial estimate put the field's reserves at 350 bcm of gas and 100 million tonnes of condensate.
The field is being developed in stages under a 30-year contract by the Joint Operating Company of Absheron Petroleum B.V. (JOCAP).
The Absheron project was initially equally owned by SOCAR and TotalEnergies, but in August 2023 they each agreed to sell a 15% stake to ADNOC, giving the latter a 30% stake and reducing their interests to 35% each.
TotalEnergies and SOCAR announced the production of the first gas at Absheron on July 10, 2023. First-phase production peaked at 1.5 bcm in 2024. Gas produced under the first phase is intended for Azerbaijan's domestic market.
