Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept.10 / Trend, E.Tariverdiyeva /
Discovery of new gas field "Absheron" is emergence of an important strategic resource for Azerbaijan, Chief Editor of the Vestnik Kavkaza and Trend Expert Council member Alexei Vlasov said.
"With the discovery of a major gas field Baku gets opportunity to make corrections to the national energy strategy to increase the resource base," Vlasov told Trend.
If data on reserves volume are confirmed, Azerbaijan may become one of the main players on the gas market, he said.
"Now the question is how to reasonably develop a gas supply concept given Azerbaijan's national interests and interests of its main partners - both Russia and the EU," he said.
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.