Azerbaijan, Baku, June 18 / Trend, E. Ismayilov /
The construction of the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) will be launched in 2014, SOCAR head Rovnag Abdullayev told the media on Saturday.
"Azerbaijan is expected to participate in large, capital-intensive projects in the future," Abdullayev said. "In particular, a final decision on the gas export route to Europe will be made by the end of this month".
The second stage of Shah Deniz gas condensate field development will be authorized by late 2013. The South Caucasus gas pipeline is planned to be expanded within ensuring the export of Azerbaijani gas to Europe.
"After the gas pipeline project is chosen, Shah Deniz project partners will become shareholders, and actually take part in its construction," SOCAR head said.
Azerbaijan has the opportunity to extract 20 billion cubic meters of gas per year mine in 2015, excluding gas injected into the reservoir to maintain pressure.
TAP and Nabucco West are currently competing over the transportation of Azerbaijani gas to the European markets. The gas which will be produced within the second stage of development of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field is considered the main source for these pipeline projects.
The TANAP project envisages gas transportation from the Shah Deniz field to Europe via Turkey. The initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters per year. Around six billion cubic meters will be delivered to Turkey and the rest to Europe.
Nabucco West would require the construction of 1,300 kilometers of the pipeline (Bulgaria - 412 km, Romania - 469 km, Hungary - 384 km, Austria - 47 km) from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Baumgarten in Austria.
The TAP project is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to the South of Italy, and further to Western Europe. TAP's initial pipeline capacity will be 10 billion cubic meters per year, but it is easily expandable to 20 billion cubic meters per year. TAP's shareholders are Switzerland's AXPO (42.5 percent), Norway's Statoil (42.5 percent) and Germany's E.ON Ruhrgas (15 percent).