The construction of the Shah Deniz Compression (SDC) project has begun. Located 43 miles (70 km) offshore in the Azerbaijani portion of the Caspian Sea, the project will maintain plateau gas production from Shah Deniz's Stage 2 facilities by increasing the compression capacity of the existing Shah Deniz Alpha platform and installing a new compression platform (see Shah Deniz Compression Project Advances | Gas Compression Magazine).
Once completed, the project will enable further export of natural gas via the Southern Gas Corridor, a key route delivering Caspian gas to markets in Europe.
The SDC project received the Final Investment Decision (FID) in June 2025 from its ownership consortium consisting 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 huge Shah Deniz gas field in the Azerbaijani part of the Caspian Sea. The US$2.9 billion project is designed to develop and produce low-pressure gas resources from the vast gas field to increase resource recovery and extend production life.
The project, which includes the installation of an electrically powered, unmanned compression platform, is expected to enable the production of an additional 1.7 gross tcf (50 x 10).9 M3) gas and 25 million barrels of condensate. It will be installed approximately 3 km from the existing Shah Deniz Bravo (SDB) platform.
With four 11 MW compressors on board, the SDC platform is designed to host gas compression from the Shah Deniz Alpha (SDA) and SDB platforms. This means that the export gas from the platforms is compressed onshore at SDC before being transported to the Sangachal terminal.