The Sangachal Terminal is an industrial complex consisting of a

natural gas processing Natural-gas processing is a range of industrial processes designed to purify raw natural gas by removing impurities, contaminants and higher molecular mass hydrocarbons to produce what is known as ''pipeline quality'' dry natural gas. Natural gas ...

plant and

oil production plant An oil production plant is a facility which processes production fluids from oil wells in order to separate out key components and prepare them for export. Typical oil well production fluids are a mixture of oil, gas and produced water. An oil prod ...

, located on the coast of the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

south of

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

History

Construction of the terminal began in 1996 with the Early Oil Project, which foresaw construction of pipelines to

Supsa Supsa ( ka, სუფსა) is a Black Sea port village in western Georgia with the population of 273 (2014). It is located in the Lanchkhuti Municipality, on the river Supsa. It is the terminus of the Western Early Oil pipeline from Azerbai ...

and

Novorossiysk Novorossiysk ( rus, Новоросси́йск, p=nəvərɐˈsʲijsk; ady, ЦIэмэз, translit=Chəməz, p=t͡sʼɜmɜz) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is one of the largest ports on the Black Sea. It is one of the few cities hono ...

. Oil was first exported in October 1997. The terminal has since been expanded to include the ACG Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3 Oil Trains, BTC's main pumping station and the Shah Deniz gas plant. Facilities at the oil production plant include separators,

coalescer A coalescer is a device which induces coalescence in a medium. They are primarily used to separate emulsions into their components via various processes, operating in reverse to an emulsifier. Coalescers are of two main types: mechanical and ele ...

s, three new crude oil

storage tank Storage tanks are containers that hold liquids, compressed gases (gas tank; or in U.S.A "pressure vessel", which is not typically labeled or regulated as a storage tank) or mediums used for the short- or long-term storage of heat or cold. The t ...

s, Export Pumps, gas turbine power generators and a central control room.

Sangachal Terminal Expansion Program

The Sangachal Terminal Expansion Program (STEP) was started in November 2001. The construction included 15,000 cubic metre of concrete, 1,600 units of steel structures, of pipe, of cables. Apart from technological works, civil construction included living accommodations for 550 people, cafeteria, movie theater, soccer field, etc. US$1.2-2 billion was spent for sub-projects realized within the STEP project. The terminal expansion contract was awarded to Tekfen-Azfen joint venture which employed nearly 4,000 employees for the project, 75% of which were Azerbaijani citizens. Due to finalization of the main part of the project, this number was reduced to 1,720 employees.

Technical features

Sangachal Terminal has a processing capacity of and of gas per day (bcfd). The three new crude oil storage tanks added during the STEP have a capacity of each. The overall storage capacity at the terminal is . As of November 2009, the terminal exports . The terminal is operated by a BP led consortium and is one of the largest oil and gas facilities in the world. Other partners are from AIOC, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline,

Shah Deniz Shah Deniz gas field ( az, Şahdəniz) is the largest natural gas field in Azerbaijan. It is situated in the South Caspian Sea, off the coast of Azerbaijan, approximately southeast of Baku, at a depth of . The field covers approximately . Stretch ...

and

South Caucasus Pipeline The South Caucasus Pipeline (also known as Baku–Tbilisi–Erzurum Pipeline, BTE pipeline, or Shah Deniz Pipeline) is a natural gas pipeline from the Shah Deniz gas field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea to Turkey. It runs parallel to ...

projects. The terminal receives oil from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field and natural gas from the Shah Deniz gas field. The oil is exported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline to Turkey's Mediterranean coast and via the Baku-Supsa Pipeline and the Baku-Novorossiysk Pipeline to the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

coast. Sangachal Terminal was mentioned in documents published by

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...

as one of US "critical foreign dependencies".Cable Viewer

References

External links

Sangachal Terminal, Caspian Energy Centre
{{BP BP buildings and structures Oil terminals Natural gas terminals Petroleum industry in Azerbaijan Natural gas in Azerbaijan Energy infrastructure in Azerbaijan Caspian Sea

History

Sangachal Terminal Expansion Program

Technical features

See also

References

External links