Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.11
By Anakhanim Hidayatova- Trend:
Azerbaijan is today one of the EU's major and most reliable energy partners and the Southern Gas Corridor is at the center of our strategic energy partnership, Head of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan Malena Mard told Trend Feb.11.
"Our objective is that the entire infrastructure along the corridor would be operational in time by 2019-2020," she said.
Mard added that in line with the European Energy Security Strategy, the Southern Gas Corridor remains a key project for the common objective of diversification of sources and suppliers.
"The Advisory Council meeting on February, 12 will be a very important event on high political level to promote the Southern Gas Corridor," she said.
Baku will host the first meeting of the Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor on Feb.12. The participation of the following officials in the meeting has already been confirmed: Italian Deputy State Secretary for Economic Development Claudio de Vincenti, energy ministers of Greece, Georgia and Bulgaria, Panagiotis Lafazanis, Kakha Kaladze and Temenujka Petkova, as well as the Vice President of the European Commission, Maros Sefcovic.
Representatives of all transit countries of the Southern Gas Corridor (Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Albania and Bulgaria) have been invited to participate in the meeting.
Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for EU. This project is aimed at diversification of routes and sources of energy supply and thereby increase EU's energy security. The Southern Gas Corridor envisages the delivery of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas condensate field to Europe.
A final investment decision was made on Dec.17, 2013 on the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz offshore gas and condensate field's development. The gas produced at this field will first go to the European market (10 billion cubic meters), while six billion cubic meters of gas will be annually delivered to Turkey.
The contract for development of the Shah Deniz offshore field was signed on June 4, 1996. The field's proven reserve is equal to 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas and 240 million metric tons of condensate.
As part of the second stage of the field's development, gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus gas pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic (TAP) gas pipelines.