The Shah Deniz partnership has signed a US$1.5bn master agreement with a consortium of Italian Saipem (Saipem share of approximately US$1.3bn), Bos Shelf and Star Gulf, for the transport and installation of subsea production systems and subsea structures for the Shah Deniz project in Azerbaijan. The contract has a 5-year duration, plus a possible extension of a further five years. It includes 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 post 2017.
The Shah Deniz consortium consists of BP (28.8%, operator), SOCAR (16.7%), TPAO (19%), Statoil (15.5%), Lukoil (10%) and NICO (10%). National oil and gas company SOCAR is developing the second phase, Shah Deniz II, expected to produce 16 bcm/year of gas as of 2019-2020; 10 bcm/year would be exported to western Europe and 6 bcm/year to Turkey. The second phase is estimated at US$28bn.