Shah Deniz Field: Fault Fixed; Supply Resumes

BP has today resumed supply from the Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan to Turkey and Georgia through the South Caucasus pipeline. Supply was cut yesterday after a technical fault during planned maintenance forced all four wells to be shutdown.

A BP spokesperson told the Trend news agency that supply had resumed from the field and was expected to reach normal levels later today. 

Earlier today, a BP spokesperson said that the repair would restore supply to the two countries which had been affected by the stoppage.

"In the process of production, it will also restore export of gas to Georgia and Turkey," the ABC news site reports BP's press office as saying.

The press office also said that supply would take time to resume fully given the distance the gas would take to reach the South Caucasus pipeline. Gas supply will resume in phases. The spokesperson said that the transit would not be affected by the extremely cold weather affecting not just Azerbaijan, but countries all over Europe.

"Despite the abnormal cold in Azerbaijan, there is no threat of freezing of residual gas in the SCP (South Caucasus pipeline). The pipe is 1 metre under the ground."

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said that while supplies from Azerbaijan and from Iran have dropped in recent days, Turkey was not struggling for gas.

"We don't see any problem in natural gas supply for now," he said. "This was a purely technical issue--it would be unfair to say this was political."

Gas import amounts into Turkey fell sharply yesterday, with imports from Azerbaijan and Iran amounting to 6 to 7 million cubic metres a day, as opposed to Turkey's usual import amounts of 40 million cubic metres a day.