"The Shah Deniz 2 project is now over 50% complete in terms of engineering, procurement and construction, and remains on target for first gas in 2018," the company said.

"Wide scale activities are currently ongoing at all offshore and onshore sites/fabrication yards of the country including the Sangachal Terminal, ATA (AMEC/Tekfen/Azfen) yard near Baku, Baku Deepwater Jackets Factory and along the pipeline route. A major construction milestone was achieved in the third quarter with the departure from Singapore of the two hull sections for the subsea construction vessel – Khankendi, which is being built at Baku Shipyard.  The sections, weighing a total of 10,800 tonnes, are 140 metres long, 16 metres wide and 17 metres high. Once completed, this new vessel will be deployed to the Shah Deniz 2 area for the construction of the subsea structures.

"In Azerbaijan, over 18,000 people are involved in construction activities across all main contracts and over 85% of them are Azerbaijani nationals."