The South Caucasus Pipeline Company (SCPC) announces today that on 01 August 2021 the process of transition of the technical operatorship of the South Caucasus Pipeline Company (SCPC) from BP Exploration (Shah Deniz) Limited to SOCAR Midstream Operations LLC was finalized. SCP is one of the four segments of the Southern Gas Corridor, designated to export natural gas from Azerbaijan via Georgia to Turkey and Europe. SOCAR Midstream Operations LLC is a fully owned subsidiary of SOCAR.
The transfer of technical operatorship was carried out in fulfilment of the obligations undertook in the revised SCPC Pipeline Owners’ Agreement, signed in December 2013 as part of the Final Investment Decision on the Shah Deniz Stage 2 and South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion (SCPX) projects. The agreement entitles SOCAR to undertake the technical operatorship of SCPC on the first anniversary of the SCPX construction completion date. The SCPX construction was completed in March 2019. A year after, in March 2020 SOCAR Midstream Operations LLC officially became the Technical Operator of SCPC with agreed transition period.
The transition process which started in March 2020 has been successfully completed in July 2021. Despite the challenges caused by the COVID-19 bp and SOCAR have worked in close collaboration to effectively implement all the aspects of the transition process.
Rovnag Abdullayev, President of SOCAR, said: “After six years of successful commercial operatorship of the South Caucasus Pipeline Company SOCAR now takes over the technical operatorship of SCPC. This is yet another tremendous achievement for the Azerbaijani state company to operate the international gas pipeline. SCP is one of the key sections of the Southern Gas Corridor aimed at boosting Azerbaijan’s gas exports, supporting energy security, supply diversification and decarbonization goals in Turkey and Europe. We would like to thank bp once again for their excellent partnership and operatorship in all the segments of the Southern Gas Corridor.”
Gary Jones, bp’s regional president for Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, said: “We are pleased that following a thorough and comprehensive transition process, the technical operatorship of SCP has been successfully transferred to SOCAR. SCP is a critical part of the Southern Gas Corridor which for the first time delivers Caspian energy resources to European markets and therefore it is important that we continue to work together to ensure its safety, efficiency, and long-term reliability. SOCAR brings a wealth of experience as commercial operator of SCPC, and we believe they will continue with the same high level of efficiency and expertise now as technical operator. As the biggest shareholder in Shah Deniz and SCPC, we remain committed to working closely with SOCAR in support of their new responsibility and we wish them a tremendous success.”
Fuad M. Ahmadov, Executive Director of SOCAR Midstream Operations Limited, said:” We are proud to undertake the role of technical operatorship of the SCP system. At the same time, we fully understand what an enormous responsibility this imposes on us. As the successor Technical Operator, we will continue working closely with bp and all the partners to sustain the high level of safety, efficiency, environmental and social performance SCPC has reached under bp’s operatorship. We are sure that working together we will bring significant benefits to the host countries, shareholders, employees and neighbouring communities”.
Eldar Gaziyev, area operation manager, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey export pipelines: “SCP has been operating safely and reliably since the start of export operations in 2006 and almost all of the credit for this remarkable performance should go to the pipeline operating staff and workforce. At this important time of technical operatorship transfer I would like to recognize their outstanding commitment, dedication and excellent performance which have to date ensured the safety and reliability of the entire export system. We are confident that the similar level of commitment to safe operations and the high quality of capabilities of the staff will continue under SOCAR’s technical operatorship. The way our two teams worked together to achieve a successful transition is an example of excellent partnership and close collaboration. We are particularly proud that the transition has been completed safely and smoothy with no impact on the pipeline operations – huge thanks to both SOCAR and bp teams for making this happen.”
The SCPC shareholders are: bp (28.8%), TPAO (19.0%), SOCAR and Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan (16.7%), PETRONAS (15.5%), LUKOIL (10.0%) and NICO (10.0%).
• SCP is a world class system and has been operated safely, reliably, and efficiently since 2006 delivering gas to the regional markets of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
• To accommodate the incremental Shah Deniz 2 production, the SCP system was further expanded to export Shah Deniz 2 volumes to Turkey (6 bcma) and Europe (10 bcma). • The expanded section of the pipeline commenced commercial deliveries to Turkey in June 2018.
• Starting December 2020, it enabled the export of Shah Deniz gas to Europe for the first time.
• During the first half of 2021, the daily average throughput of SCP was 46.51 million cubic metres of gas per day.
• The SCP export system includes 443 km of pipeline in Azerbaijan, and 248 km of pipeline in Georgia. The system also includes two compressor stations in Azerbaijan, two compressor stations and two metering stations in Georgia.
