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TotalEnergies, SOCAR and XRG announced final investment approval for Absheron full-field development on September 26. Start-up is expected in 2029, with total field gas output targeted at 6 billion cubic metres annually.
Plans include four subsea wells and a new onshore processing plant. Gas will serve Azerbaijan’s domestic market and Türkiye. The additional capacity is not operational; the initial phase has produced since 2023.
TotalEnergies gives the partners’ interests as 35% for itself, 35% for SOCAR and 30% for XRG. It estimates approximately 140 billion cubic metres of recoverable gas reserves at Absheron. That reserve estimate and the 6 billion cubic metres per year production target measure different things: one is an estimated recoverable stock, the other a targeted annual flow.
The existing first phase came on stream in 2023, with capacity for 1.5 billion cubic metres of gas annually and 12,000 barrels of condensate per day. Full-field development targets total field output of 6 billion cubic metres of gas and 47,000 barrels of condensate per day. The 2029 figures therefore describe expected field-wide output if the expansion is completed, not current production.
Four subsea wells, a subsea pipeline and a new fully electrified onshore processing plant form part of the design. Gas is intended for Azerbaijan’s domestic market and export to Türkiye through existing infrastructure. TotalEnergies also targets Scope 1 and 2 emissions intensity below 4 kilograms of CO2 equivalent per barrel of oil equivalent. These are project expectations from the company, not observed operating performance before start-up.
The approved expansion follows a producing first phase that began in 2023.