Azerbaijan, Baku, April 20 / Trend V.Sharifov /
Commissioning the second stage of development of Azerbaijani gas condensate field Shah Deniz is scheduled for 2016-2017, which depends on the investment decision on one of the planned pipeline projects - Nabucco, Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and ITGI, Deputy Vice President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR)Vitaly Beylarbeyov told Trend. SOCAR is a shareholder of the Shah Deniz project.
The shareholders of Nabucco, TAP and ITGI have decided on the gas import areas, capacities of pipelines and markets. However, financing the construction of these pipelines aimed at diversifying sources of gas supply to EU is still to be defined. Some members of the European projects hope that investment decision will be made by late 2010.
"As soon as the investment decision on Nabucco, TAP or ITGI is taken, SOCAR will begin negotiations with the shareholders of these projects," Beylarbeyov said.
The European partners plan to begin constructing the Nabucco pipeline from the Georgian-Turkish border, and the shareholders of TAP and ITGI - from the Turkish-Greek, which, in turn, requires agreements on transit of gas between Azerbaijan and Turkey.
"At this stage, absence of the transport agreement with Turkey will not allow to get gas from the Shah Deniz field to such pipelines as the TAP and ITGI, as they start at the Turkish-Greek border. It will be necessary to transport gas through Turkey, which is complicated due to absence of a transport agreement with that country. But we hope to achieve a transport agreement with Turkey in the near future," he said.
Azerbaijan, which has always advocated a multi-vector export routes, is considering alternative transportation options for its gas because of absence of a transport agreement with Turkey and the unavailability of European pipeline projects.
"We are working over alternative routes of gas export, including construction of terminals for export of LNG to Romania and CNG -Bulgaria. The White Stream pipeline project also did not excluded. Increasing gas exports to Iran and Russia is under the consideration," Beylarbeyov said.
The Shah Deniz field is one of the largest in the world, but to increase its gas exports Azerbaijan also relies on the offshore fields such as Absheron, Nakhchivan, Bahar, Umid, Babek and deep-seated gas of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oilfield.
"None of sides is interested in more rapid resolution of transport issues for gas export as Azerbaijan. Every quarter we spend money with eight zeros [billions - Trend] to maintain Phase-2 project in a stand-by mode," he added.
In addition to spending substantial funds to maintain Phase-2 in a stand-by mode, the project partners lose profits.
"We have previously planned to launch Phase 2 in 2014. Today, we are speaking about 2016-2017. That is, we could sell gas and get more money two years more," Beylarbeyov said.
Commencement of Phase 2 will open up thousands of jobs in Azerbaijan, as well as in other countries.
"We cannot postpone commissioning Phase 2. We calculate the time that we need for this project ranging from solution of transport problems to the direct export of gas from the field," Beylarbeyov added.
The contract to develop the offshore Shah Deniz field was signed June 4, 1996. Participants to the agreement are: BP (operator) - 25.5 percent, Statoil Hydro - 25.5 percent, NICO - 10 percent, Total - 10 percent, LukAgip - 10 percent, TPAO - 9 percent, SOCAR-10 percent. Now gas is transported to Georgia and Turkey via the South Caucasus gas pipeline. Azerbaijan also purchases gas volumes.
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