TotalEnergies and its partners SOCAR and XRG they will move forward with the comprehensive development of Absheron gas field located in the Caspian Sea off the coast of Azerbaijan, the project will significantly increase the field’s production capacity and is expected to begin its new operational phase in 2029.
The final investment decision (FID) contemplates increasing Absheron total production to 6 billion cubic meters of gas per year and 47,000 barrels of condensate per day.
TotalEnergies holds a 35% stake and acts as the project operator, Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR controls another 35%, while XRG, a company linked to ADNOC, owns the remaining 30%.
Absheron will quadruple its gas production
Currently, the project is based on a first phase that began production in 2023, this phase has the capacity to supply approximately 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year and around 12,000 barrels of condensate per day. Therefore, the complete development will increase gas production capacity to four times the level of the first phase.
He Absheron field it is located approximately 100 kilometers southeast of Baku and has about 140 billion cubic meters of recoverable gas reserves.
Patrick Pouyanné, president and CEO of TotalEnergies, indicated that the development will allow them to take advantage of the productive potential of one of the great gas discoveries in the Caspian Sea.
According to the executive, the project will offer additional long-term gas supply for national and international markets and will contribute to regional energy security.
Four underwater wells will produce gas from Absheron
From a technical point of view, the expansion includes four underwater wells to extract the gas, the production will be sent to land via an underwater pipeline equipped with advanced automation systems.
Subsequently, the hydrocarbon will be processed in a new, fully electrified land-based plant, designed to reduce energy consumption and limit greenhouse gas emissions associated with operations.
According to the project data, the projected intensity of scope 1 and 2 emissions will be below 4 kilograms of CO2 equivalent per barrel of oil equivalent.
Furthermore, the combination of underwater facilities, pipeline transport, and electrified processing will allow the development of new capacity without building an independent export chain from scratch.
The gas will reach Azerbaijan and Türkiye
Part of Absheron gas production will supply Azerbaijan’s domestic market, while another volume will be destined for export to Türkiye.
This will utilize the existing gas infrastructure connecting Azerbaijan to the Turkish and European markets, in this way, the expansion will incorporate new volumes of Caspian gas into energy corridors that are already operational.
The project also complements XRG participation in the Southern Gas Corridor, a network of approximately 3,500 kilometers that connects the energy resources of Azerbaijan with Türkiye and southern Europe.
Mohamed Al Aryani, president of XRG International Gas division, noted that the joint investment with SOCAR and TotalEnergies it seeks to develop resources and infrastructure capable of providing long-term energy supply and economic value.
TotalEnergies strengthens its gas production
Absheron advance comes as TotalEnergies maintains its plans to increase its global oil and gas production over the next decade.
The French company expects its oil and gas production to grow by more than 3% annually until 2030 and estimates an increase of between 2% and 3% annually between 2030 and 2035.
In that scenario, the comprehensive development of the Absheron gas field will add offshore capacity in the Caspian from 2029 and expand the volume available to Azerbaijan and connected markets through the regional infrastructure.
Source: Offshore Energy
Photo: Shutterstock
