Baku, Azerbaijan, August 30
By Elena Kosolapova – Trend:
BP company will have no problems with financing a 12-percent share in the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline project (TANAP), BP’s vice president for external affairs and strategy in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, told reporters in Baku Aug. 30.
He said that BP does not plan to abandon TANAP and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) projects.
"BP has never had such plans on the agenda,” Aslanbayli added. “The company plans to stay on the Azerbaijani market for at least a few more decades."
TANAP project envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field to the western borders of Turkey. The gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018, and after completion of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline’s construction, the gas will be delivered to Europe in early 2020.
Aslanbayli also touched upon the issue of reducing the Shah Deniz project costs.
He added that the reduction of costs is connected with the optimization.
"At present, the project costs are even less than the annual budget, which has been coordinated with Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR,” he said.
Aslanbayli said that the cost optimization continues in all projects at the current oil price.
“The costs on Shah Deniz project are reduced less than in other projects," he said.
The shareholders in the Shah Deniz contract are BP (operator - 28.8 percent), AzSD (10 percent), SGC Upstream (6.7 percent), Petronas (15.5 percent), Lukoil (10 percent), NIOC (10 percent) and TPAO (19 percent).