BP boosts gas output nearly 18% at Shah Deniz field in Q1 2022

BAKU. May 5 (Interfax) - The BP-Azerbaijan company boosted gas output 17.6% year-on-year to 6 billion cubic meters at the Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea in Q1 2022, the company's press service told Interfax.

The field also produced 9 million barrels of condensate, 1 million tonnes, in the first quarter, a rise of 15.4% year-on-year.

"The current production capacity of the field is approximately 72 million cubic meters of gas per day, or over 26 billion cubic meters per year," the company said.

The Shah Deniz consortium in the first quarter of this year cut spending 2.5% year-on-year to $847 million for developing the field, the project's operating costs exceeded $759 billion, and capital expenditures totaled $88 million. The bulk of the expenditures were for work on Stage 2 of the field development.

The company also reported that gas pumped via the South Caucasus Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline averaged 56.2 million cubic meters per day in Q1 2022 against 50.74 million cubic meters per day in Q1 2021. Operating costs for maintaining the pipeline totaled $14 million, and capital expenditures totaled $300,000.

The contract for developing the Shah Deniz field was signed in 1996. Equity participation of the parties to the contract is currently as follows: BP is the operator with 29.99%, the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and its subsidiaries hold 21.02%, Lukoil has 19.99%, TPAO holds 19%, and Nico has 10%.