Three decades of energy in Azerbaijan: BP VP on oil, gas, and renewables Interview with Euronews

BP has been a cornerstone of Azerbaijan’s energy sector for more than three decades, and the company shows no signs of slowing down. In an exclusive interview with Euronews, Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli, BP’s Vice President for the Caspian region, detailed the company’s ambitious plans to expand both its hydrocarbon and renewable energy projects in the country.

Highlighting the company’s long-standing presence in the country, Aslanbayli said BP is proud of its contribution to the development of Azerbaijan’s energy infrastructure and in establishing the country as one of the regional leaders in the energy transition.

He recalled that BP was among the first international firms to enter Azerbaijan shortly after the country regained independence in early 1992. “Since then, we always are very proud of the trust of the government who trusted the operations of the two very major strategic assets of the country, but also always felt that responsibility,” he said.

“If you look back that journey is truly really remarkable. The numbers tell powerful stories: it's about around 4.5 billion barrels from ACG oil, 257 billion cubic meters of Shah Deniz gas. It's more than 6,000 tankers from Ceyhan to the world markets,” Aslanbayli noted.

He also emphasised BP’s expanding work in renewable energy, citing the Shafag Solar Power Plant in the Jabrayil district as a key example. “In addition to hydrocarbon projects, which we develop jointly with the government, SOCAR, and other partners, we are really proud of our new solar energy project in the region — the Shafag Solar Power Plant,” he said.

The 240 MW project will feed electricity into the national grid, with an equivalent volume used to electrify the Sangachal terminal. “If you think about the cycle, part of the revenues generated from hydrocarbon business invested into solar farm and the solar electricity generated in that farm redirected to the electrification of the Sangachal terminal, which in turn decreases the emissions by 50% over the future life. At the peak of the project, we'll have about 400 jobs on the site. And for the future, we believe that this model itself can be a great model to use for other projects as well,” he added.

Aslanbeyli stressed that BP’s strategy fully aligns with Azerbaijan’s decarbonization goals. “We continue operating mature fields under the Contract of the Century and Shah Deniz. But at the same time, we are talking to the government, the Minister of Energy, to SOCAR, and other parts of the government about the new projects. Recently, we started to sign the new agreement for the development of non-NAG project, non-associated gas under the ACG,” he said, noting that BP plans to begin deep-gas production in the first half of 2026.

He also highlighted a $2.9 billion compressor station project at Shah Deniz, a CAPEX project, designed to maintain maximum gas output and ensure additional supplies to global markets.

The deep-gas reserves at ACG are estimated at 4 trillion cubic feet, with around 0.5 billion cubic meters of gas planned for production annually in the first phase. Gas from the initial appraisal well will be sold to SOCAR.

Offshore operations at Shah Deniz are scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2026 with the installation of marine supports and are expected to conclude by 2029. The project aims to produce and export an additional 50 billion cubic meters of gas and 25 million barrels of condensate.

Construction of the $200 million Shafag Solar Power Plant is set to begin this year and be completed by mid-2027. The project will be implemented and managed by Lightsource BP, a BP subsidiary.

By Tamilla Hasanova