Azerbaijan, Baku, September 14 /corr. Trend E.Ismaylov /
The president of StatoilHydro in Russia Bengt Lie Hansen said on Monday gas sales from the second phase of the Shakh Deniz project in Azerbaijan was "an open issue", Reuters reported. StatoilHydro is a commercial operator of Shah Deniz development project.
"We are continuously exploring all options to commercialise the fields, so we will be selecting the solution which is giving the best commercial situation for the company," Hansen.
Asked whether the Shakh Deniz partners, which include BP, would sell gas from the project's second phase to Russia or to partners in the Nabucco pipeline project, he replied: "I can only say that we are looking for the best options and that means it is an open issue."
The contract to develop offshore Shah-Deniz field was signed on June 4, 1996. Participants to the agreement Shah-Deniz are: BP (operator - 25.5%), StatoilHydro (25.5%), SOCAR (10%), LUKOIL (10%), NICO (10%), Total (10%), and TPAO (9%).
The Nabucco project worth 7.9 billion euro will deliver Azerbaijani and Central Asian gas to the EU. Construction of the pipeline is expected to begin in 2011 and the first supplies - in 2014. Its maximum capacity will be 31 billion cubic meters per year.
The consortium to build the pipeline includes companies: OMV Gas GmbH (Austria), Botas (Turkey), Bulgargaz (Bulgaria), Transgaz SA (Romania), MOL Natural Gas Transmission Company Ltd. (Hungary), RWE (Germany).