Construction has begun on the Shah Deniz Compression (SDC) Project. The project, located 43 miles (70 km) offshore in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea, will sustain plateau gas production from the Shah Deniz Stage 2 facilities by adding compression capacity at the existing Shah Deniz Alpha platform and installing a new compression platform (see Shah Deniz Compression Project Moves Forward | Gas Compression Magazine).
Once complete, the project will enable the continued export of natural gas through the Southern Gas Corridor, a key route that delivers Caspian gas to markets in Europe.
The SDC Project received the final investment decision (FID) in June 2025 from its ownership consortium made up of BP (29.99%), LUKOIL (19.99%), TPAO (19%), SGC (16.02%), NICO (10%) and MVM (5%).
The SDC project is the next stage of development of the giant Shah Deniz gas field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea. The US$2.9 billion project is designed to access and produce low pressure gas resources from the giant gas field, increasing resource recovery and extending production life.
The project, which will include the installation of an electrically powered uncrewed compression platform, is expected to allow production of an additional gross 1.7 tcf (50 x 109 m3) of gas and 25 million barrels of condensate. It will be installed approximately 2 miles (3 km) from the existing Shah Deniz Bravo (SDB) platform.
With four 11-MW compressors onboard, the SDC platform is designed to serve as a host facility for gas compression from both the Shah Deniz Alpha (SDA) and SDB platforms, meaning that before flowing to the Sangachal terminal onshore, export gas from the platforms will be compressed at SDC.
