BP has installed the topsides for the Shah Deniz Stage 2 quarters and utilities (QU) platform in the Caspian Sea, the supermajor announced this week, as the project inches closer to first gas in 2018.
The QU platform topsides set sail for the Shah Deniz field in early June aboard the STB-1 transportation barge, the topsides arrived on 2 July. The floatover operation began in the morning on Monday, 3 July, BP said, with the STB-1 moving slowly into the jacket slot. Full load transfer onto the jacket was completed on Monday at 15:00.
BP says that the platform's first residents – the platform manager and the initial hook-up and commissioning (HUC) team – were transferred to the platform to begin HUC operations.
The QU topsides unit is 100m long by 60m wide, BP says, and weighs about 12,400-tonne. It contains 100-person living quarters, four main power generators totaling 60MW, 10 direct electrical heating modules and a range of subsea production equipment. The QU jacket, built by the BOS Shelf, Star Gulf and Saipem consortium, was installed in 94m water depth.
Shah Deniz, discovered in 1999, is 70km southeast of Baku, Azerbaijan, in 50-500m water depth. The field sits on the deepwater shelf of the Caspian Sea, and is one of the largest gas-condensate fields in the world with 40 Tcf of gas in place. Shah Deniz Stage 2 is designed to add a further 16 Bcm/year of gas production to the approximately 9 Bcm/year produced by Shah Deniz Stage 1.
Shah Deniz Stage 2 concept calls for two new bridge-linked offshore platforms; 26 gas production wells, which will be drilled with two semisubmersibles; 500km of subsea pipelines, which will link the wells with the onshore terminal; upgrading the offshore construction vessels for the project; and the expansion of the Sangachal terminal to accommodate the new gas processing and compression facilities.
BP operates Shah Deniz on behalf of the Shah Deniz joint venture with 28.8% interest. Its partners include: TPAO (19%), Petronas (15.5%), AzSD (10 %), Lukoil (10%), NICO (10%) and SGC Upstream (6.7%).
Photo: The QU topsides installation / From BP.
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Shah Deniz QU topsides set sail
Checking in on the Caspian (from OE January 2017)
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