Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 27 / Trend /
Despite the rapid development of the non - oil sector, the energy sector remains the leading segment of Azerbaijan's economy, Head of Azerbaijani Presidential Administration's Social and Political Department Ali Hasanov told the official website of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (NAP) on Thursday.
"The progress achieved today is based on successful implementation of Heydar Aliyev's oil strategy. This is why the unexpected decline in the production in Azeri - Chirag - Guneshli (ACG) fields in recent years, was of concern to the President of Azerbaijan," he said.
Hasanov noted that there were several reasons named for the decline in production.
"It was noted that the BP company, which suffered major losses after a severe accident in the Gulf of Mexico, refused to do other projects, including the risk management in production in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea," Hasanov said.
He noted that the named second reason was that after the changes in Azerbaijan's share in the ACG project were introduced ahead of time, the level of production at ACG began to fall without any significant reason.
"As a result, the loss of Azerbaijan in comparison with prices on the world market amounted to $ 8.1 billion," Hasanov underscored.
"Some other versions were also announced. But in any case, the existing situation could not satisfy Azerbaijan, and this is why the President so rigidly demanded from BP to take appropriate steps to fulfill their obligations, replace those responsible for the decline of production, and provide stability of production. As a result, the management of BP-Azerbaijan company was replaced," he added.
After the meeting with the BP executive director Robert Dudley, who recently visited Baku, President Ilham Aliyev said that BP is now aware of its responsibilities and will ensure the stability in production starting next year, Ali Hasanov said.
He noted that today the main goal of Azerbaijan's energy strategy is the delivery of country's gas to the world market.
"Earlier, the volume of Azerbaijan's proven gas reserves increased to 2.6 trillion cubic meters due to the discovery of Umid and Absheron deposits, each of which contains 300 billion cubic meters of gas. The experts say the total gas potential of Azerbaijan is estimated at six trillion cubic meters," he said.
Hasanov said, along with oil reserves (proven and inferred) the amount of total reserves in Azerbaijan is estimated at 10 billion tons of oil equivalent. It is believed that in 2025 the export of Azerbaijani gas will be increased up to 40 - 50 billion cubic meters, and most of it will be transported to Europe and Turkey.
"With the launch of TANAP transnational gas pipeline, which is ranked as one of the main projects for export of energy resources of 2012, Azerbaijan with its natural gas reserves will ensure its direct involvement in the European energy market," Hasanov noted.
He said Azerbaijan has become an important partner in ensuring the energy security of Europe. In the energy balance of a number of the EU member states, the share of Azerbaijani oil is close to 35 - 40 percent.
"Once the Trans-Anatolian pipeline is launched, Azerbaijan with its 80-percent share will turn into the most important player in the European gas market", Ali Hasanov said.
An agreement on TANAP project was signed between Azerbaijan and Turkey during the visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Azerbaijan in June.
Several countries have already expressed their intention to participate in this project, and the possibility of their involvement within the project as partners is not excluded.