Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
In accordance with the concept, the French "Total" company which is involved in two projects for the development of gas condensate fields in Azerbaijan, intends to focus on the activity development in the projects in which it is the operator, head of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Rovnag Abdullayev said.
Abdullayev made the remarks on the rumors on the sale of shares of the of French company in the "Shah Deniz" development project.
"As part of its own strategy, Total intends to move away from projects at the global level in which it has small shares, and concentrate on projects operated by it," he said.
Speaking of SOCAR`s intention to increase its shares in the Shah Deniz project in the case of French company's withdrawal, Abdullayev said that it requires additional funds.
As an example, the head of the company said that the implementation of projects in the framework of gas supplies to Europe, is supported by the state, due to the financial capacity.
"This means that SOCAR has a limited resource base, and participation in the new projects and acquisition of assets require additional investment," he said.
The final investment decision was made on the second phase of the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz offshore gas and condensate field's development on December 17, 2013.
Some 10 billion cubic meters of gas from the field will be supplied to the European market.
The contract for development of the Shah Deniz offshore field, which has proven reserves of 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas, was signed on June 4, 1996.
Gas from Shah Deniz field is exported to Turkey and Georgia via the South Caucasus gas pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum).
Participants in the Shah Deniz field development are the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) with a share of 16.7 percent, British BP (28.8 percent), Norway's Statoil (15.5 percent), Iran's NICO (10 percent), French Total (10 percent), Russia's Lukoil (10 percent), Turkish TPAO (9 percent).
Edited by S.I.
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