BP awards Wood Group Shah Deniz Subsea Project

British energy services company Wood Group said on Tuesday it had been awarded by BP a 36 million pounds ($60.3 million) subsea contract for the Shah Deniz II gas project in Azerbaijan.

The new call-off contract for 2014 is part of the two companies' 2007 global agreement and will cover engineering and project management services for the Shah Deniz II Subsea Execute phase, Wood Group said.

Wood Group has provided engineering services to BP on the project, which is expected to produce 16 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas from around 2019, since 2008.

"We have worked with BP Azerbaijan for a number of years and the award of this contract enables us to extend and reinforce that long-standing relationship," said Steve Wayman, chief executive of Wood Group Kenny, the company's subsea division.

Azerbaijan's biggest gas field, Shah Deniz is being developed by a consortium of BP, Statoil (STO), SOCAR and others.

Shah Deniz I has been pumping gas since 2006 and has an annual production capacity of about 10 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas.

Shah Deniz II is expected to produce 16 bcm of gas per year from around 2019, with 10 bcm earmarked for Europe and 6 bcm for Turkey.

Reporting by Ron Bousso