Saipem unveils its operational strategy for Azerbaijan by year-end 2023

Italy’s Saipem company aims to complete the project with bp for Shah Deniz 2 in Azerbaijan by late 2023, the company told Trend.

"We have recently achieved the "First Gas" goal with our participation to the Absheron EPS (Early Production Scheme) Project conducted by Total and SOCAR partnership. The main task for Saipem’s operation in the country by 2023 is to complete the other flagship project with our major client bp, i.e. Shah Deniz 2 Offshore Gas Field. The project is on track with the full satisfaction of our client. It testifies the outstanding experience and reliability of Saipem after more than 20 years of continuous presence in Azerbaijan with bp and SOCAR, having contributed to the full development of all the major offshore facilities in both oil and gas fields," said the company.

As for the possibility of expanding its business in Azerbaijan, Saipem said that through thee presence in Baku with a full operating branch office, the company is constantly monitoring the market for all the major energy sector investments, in a context of growing economic exchanges between Italy and Azerbaijan.

"Saipem’s interest is focused on both the traditional business and the renewables one, in particular on offshore wind power," said the company.

Saipem and its consortium partners Bos Shelf and Star Gulf were awarded call-off 007 under the Shah Deniz Stage 2 Master Agreement by bp, on behalf of the Shah Deniz partnership in 2016. The total value of the contract is approximately $1.5 billion (Saipem share approximately $1.3 billion), with a duration of five years plus a possible extension for a further five.

The scope of work of the call-off refers to the transport and installation of subsea production systems and subsea structures, laying of fiber optic cables and production umbilicals, laying of 90 kilometers of pipelines, the activation, crewing and operations management of the new-build Subsea Construction Vessel (SCV) Khankendi, the SCV diving support, remotely operated vehicle (ROV) support and marine base management.

Shah Deniz Stage 2, or Full Field Development (FFD) is a giant project that will add a further 16 billion cubic meters per year (bcma) of gas production to the approximately 10 bcma produced by Shah Deniz Stage 1.

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