Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 13 / Trend /
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has stated that proposals recently submitted to Azerbaijan on exporting the country's gas to the world markets will be considered.
Proposal that is the most acceptable to Azerbaijan and its partners, and major investors will be selected, President Aliyev said at a joint press conference with Austrian President Heinz Fischer in Baku.
"Business conditions of the three projects, as well as the timing of their implementation and technical parameters will play a major role. This should be such a decision that we did not lose time, and that Azerbaijan could maximum export its gas resources. We are in talks to combine these two components. I repeat that we must take this decision together. The volume of investment envisaged for the Shah Deniz-2 project is expected at about $ 20 billion. Of course, opinion of the key investors should be taken into account and Azerbaijan's interests should be ensured," President Aliyev stated.
In early October all three pipeline projects (Nabucco, ITGI and TAP), aimed at transporting Azerbaijani gas to Europe under the second phase of the project on development of the Shah Deniz gas-condensate field submitted final proposals to the Azerbaijani side, which will make its decision on the preferred transportation route by the end of this year.
The Azerbaijani side is going to deliver 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Europe under the Shah Deniz-2 project through the chosen pipeline.
Nabucco gas pipeline project envisages gas supplies from the Caspian region and the Middle East to the EU countries. Nabucco pipeline's maximum capacity will hit 31 billion cubic meters per year.
ITGI includes updated Turkish pipeline infrastructure and also ITG projects such as the Turkey-Greece junction pipeline and IGI. Its planned capacity is 11.8 billion cubic meters per year.
The Trans Adriatic Pipeline will transport Azerbaijani gas from via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and further into western Europe.
Aliyev underscored that the European Union and Azerbaijan adopted in early 2011 a Joint Declaration on the South Gas Corridor, which states that both sides will make efforts to implement the Southern Gas Corridor.
"Moreover, the European Commission and the Industry and Energy Ministry set up a joint working group. This working group's activities are considered as positive. All these options and projects, of course, must be analyzed," President Aliyev stated.
Aliyev stated that Azerbaijan has large gas potential.
"We are interested in maximizing the sales of our gas potential. Today, the Shah Deniz project is in foreground as our major gas project. But at the same time, the recently opened Umid field of SOCAR also gives very high expectations. The Absheron field recently opened by Total and Gaz de France also has large gas reserves. I can say that Azerbaijan's proven gas reserves increased by about 600 billion cubic meters over the past year," he added.
So far, President Aliyev said the energy cooperation has been built on these principles.
"The interests of both investors and Azerbaijan, and now the interests of the European countries should also play a role in this matter. Today, we together with President Fischer have had a broad exchange of views on this. Mr. President very accurately stated that each party should win - Azerbaijan as a host of resources, transit countries and consumers. This can be done. Therefore, I believe a right decision, the decision that will satisfy all of our potential customers, will soon be taken," he noted.