BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 21
Trend:
The interest in Azerbaijan’s oil potential in the world is not decreasing, on the contrary, it is growing, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview to Azerbaijan Television, Ictimai Television, and Real Television following a groundbreaking ceremony of the offshore operations of the Absheron field at the Heydar Aliyev Baku Deep Water Jackets Plant, Trend reports.
“Projects are well underway. Our main source of income is Azeri, Chirag, and Gunashli fields. Work there is going according to plan. A new project, called “Azeri Central East”, is being implemented there now. The cost of this project is about $7 billion. As a result of the implementation of this project, production from new sources will increase, which will compensate for the decline, of course,” the head of state said.
President Ilham Aliyev said that there are currently more than 120 wells operating at the Azeri, Chirag, and Gunashli fields, at the same time, these fields have ample gas reserves.
“It is conditionally called “deep gas”, and now the State Oil Company, together with partners, is carrying out relevant work to develop the “deep gas”. The Shah Deniz-2 project is being implemented. The volume of gas supplied to Turkey via the TANAP pipeline is increasing every year. Whereas a year ago, Azerbaijani gas was in fourth or fifth place on the Turkish market, we are in the first place now, which is very important for us and for Turkey, because gas ensures the energy security of any country. Today gas is supplied to Turkey from a brotherly country, and additional steps will be taken to increase its volumes. The gas produced in the second phase of the Absheron field development will also be supplied to Turkey via the TANAP pipeline. It may also be supplied to other markets. At the same time, work to develop the “Karabakh” field is progressing on schedule. The jacket we see here now will be sailed away offshore. I hope that first oil will be produced at the “Karabakh” field in a year or two,” the head of state said.
Azerbaijani president explained that the peculiarity of this field is that there are more oil reserves there, and this is of great importance for maintaining production at a stable level.
“Another very promising project is called “Shallow Water Absheron”. This project also has great prospects. Drilling operations will begin in these fields in a few months. I do hope that we will discover large oil reserves there as well. Work is going according to plan in the “Umid” and “Babak” projects, in which SOCAR is the sole operator. These are also very promising projects, and we plan to increase the investment capacity of these projects because I repeat, we always need energy resources for domestic needs. At the same time, our export potential will be secured. There are other promising projects as well. In general, I can say that although the “Contract of the Century” was signed in 1994 and many contracts have been signed since that time, 26 years have passed, the interest in Azerbaijan’s oil potential in the world is not decreasing. On the contrary, it is growing,” the head of state said.