It is situated in the South Caspian Sea, off the coast of Azerbaijan, approximately 70 kilometres (43 mi) southeast of Baku, at a depth of 600 metres (2,000 ft).

The Agreement on “the Exploration, Development, and Production Sharing (PSA)” for Shah Deniz area was signed between SOCAR and some oil companies of foreign countries on June 4, 1996.

[5] as well as sale by Total SA in May 2014 its 10% share to Turkish TPAO[6] In October 2014, Statoil sold its remaining 15.5% stake in the project to Petronas for a fee of $2.25 billion.

The 692 kilometres (430 mi) South Caucasus Pipeline, which began operation at the end of 2006, transports gas from the Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea to Turkey, through Georgia.

The Shah Deniz scheme started to produce gas at the end of December 2006, three months later than expected, and was forced to close briefly in January 2007.

[11] The overall cost of Phase 2 expansion, including upstream and midstream stages (TANAP and TAP pipelines) is estimated to be around $45 billion.

In December 2016, the Asian Development Bank approved a total of $1 billion in both public and private assistance to support the expansion of the Shah Deniz 2 field.

[13] An Agreement (which is amended and restated), was signed between Azerbaijani Government, and some international companies and SOCAR for working together on the project of Azeri Chirag Guneshli and Production Sharing on September 14, 2017, and this contract was confirmed by National Assembly of Azerbaijan on October 31.