BP to reduce carbon footprint of Shah Deniz platform through new power supply

A joint venture between Houston-based KBR and Azerbaijan’s SOCAR has been awarded a front-end engineering design (FEED), turnaround engineering, and procurement support services contract by BP for the Shah Deniz Alpha (SDA) platform in Azerbaijan.

As explained by KBR on Monday, this project will significantly reduce SDA’s overall carbon footprint and increase operational efficiency, providing a robust, long-term, high-availability power supply. SOCAR-KBR will be responsible for the FEED services for decommissioning the existing five main power generators on the SDA platform. They will then create a power supply from the KBR-designed Shah Deniz Bravo platform through subsea cables and a backup power generator.

“KBR has been working in the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey region since 1993, which gives us unrivalled expertise with on- and off-shore greenfield and brownfield assets,” said Jay Ibrahim, president of KBR Sustainable Technology Solutions.

The joint venture between KBR and Azerbaijan’s state-owned player SOCAR was established in 2015.

Ibrahim added: “Our SOCAR-KBR joint venture allows us to combine KBR’s proven tools, systems, procedures and project track record in the region with SOCAR’s operations knowledge and experience in the energy sector.”

This project will be delivered from SOCAR-KBR’s Baku office to maximise local execution, with specialist subject matter expert support provided by KBR’s London operations.

The Shah Deniz field, discovered in 1999, is one of the world’s largest gas-condensate fields. It is located on the deepwater shelf of the Caspian Sea, 70 km southeast of Baku, in water depths ranging from 50 to 500 m. BP is the operator of the Shah Deniz JV.

In 2018, Shah Deniz celebrated 100 billion cubic metres of total gas production from the field since the start of operations. In the first three months of 2022, the field produced more than 6 billion standard cubic metres (bscm) of gas and more than 1 million tonnes (more than 9 million barrels) of condensate in total from the Shah Deniz Alpha and Shah Deniz Bravo platforms.