Baku, Azerbaijan, July 31
By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend:
One of the objectives of the EU's policy in the Southern Gas Corridor, initiated by Azerbaijan, is to enable other gas sources in the corridor to deliver significant gas volumes to the EU, a source in the European Commission (EC) told Trend July 31.
"Looking at the Southern Gas Corridor, Azerbaijan has always been considered an important gas supply country," said the source at the EC.
"While Azerbaijan is widely perceived as the enabler of the Southern Gas Corridor to the EU, another objective of the EU's policy in the Southern Gas Corridor is to enable other sources of gas in the corridor to deliver significant volumes of gas to the EU and provide significant benefits in terms of diversification of supply, competition and security of supply," the source added.
The Southern Gas Corridor will enable Europe to diversify its sources of hydrocarbon supply and boost its energy security. Meanwhile it will allow Azerbaijan to get a new market in Europe.
Azerbaijan's gas is meant to first go via the Southern Gas Corridor.
Turkmenistan, Iran and Iraq are interested in delivering gas to Europe in the future.
Earlier, on December 17, 2013, a definitive investment decision was made on the second stage of development at the 'Shah Deniz' offshore gas and condensate field for ensuring the Azerbaijani gas supplies to Europe.
Some 10 billion cubic meters of gas to be produced at the 'Shah Deniz' will go to Europe, while six billion cubic meters of it will be annually delivered to Turkey.
The contract for development of the 'Shah Deniz' was signed June 4, 1996.
The field's proven reserves stand at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas and 240 million metric tons of condensate.
In the second stage of development of the 'Shah Deniz', gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets through expansion of the South Caucasus Pipeline and construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
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