Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 11 Trend / E. Tariverdiyeva /
Total's announcement of discovering large natural gas and gas condensate at the Absheron field in Azerbaijan is great news for Total, for Azerbaijan, and for the Southern Corridor, which will help Europe to diversify its supplies of natural gas, U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan Matthew Bryza told Trend.
"This discovery again confirms Azerbaijan's potential as a significant supplier of natural gas to Europe," Bryza, who earlier coordinated U.S. energy policy in the Black and Caspian Sea regions, said.
"The United States looks forward to continuing our work with Azerbaijan and the countries and companies developing the Southern Corridor," he added. "We hope that the Southern Corridor will lead the way for future projects that will strengthen prosperity and stability throughout the entire South Caucasus."
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev briefed about discovery of large gas reserves on the Absheron field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea on Friday.
According to Total, which is one of the participants of the contract on exploration and development of the Absheron field, gas reserves at the field are estimated at several trillion cubic feet of gas and condensate according to initial assessments.
Participants in Absheron are SOCAR (40 percent), Total (40 percent) and Gaz De France Suez (20 percent).
The contract on the Absheron Field was signed on Feb. 27, 2009 between SOCAR and Total. Later Total sold 20 percent of its equity participation to Gaz De France Suez.
The first exploration well is being drilled from the Heydar Aliyev drilling rig, operated by the Danish Maersk Drilling Company.
The Absheron bloc is located about 100 kilometers from Baku at a depth of 500 meters.