Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept.18. / Trend V.Sharifov /
The construction of the Trans-Caspian pipeline designed to export gas from Central Asia to the European markets via the South Caucasus will require the consent of all the Caspian countries, Europe's major gas supplier, Norway's StatoilHydro, said.
"We would not like to comment on various discussions around Turkmen gas transportation [to world markets] via Azerbaijan," head of StatoilHydro Azerbaijan, Kristian Hausken, told in an interview to Trend .
Turkmenistan, which according to BP's data, has 7.94 trillion cubic meters of proven natural gas reserves, currently has contracts to export gas to Russia and Iran. For the diversification, Turkmenistan can start gas sale to the European and Chinese companies. At present, the European companies actively make ideas on the Nabucco gas pipeline construction, which can be filled, particularly with the Turkmen and Azerbaijani gas, whose proven reserves are estimated by BP at 1.2 trillion cubic meters.
Azerbaijan's largest gas field is Shah Deniz, where owning 25.5 of shares, StatoilHydro is a commercial operator carrying out the project to sell fuel on the markets in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
"StatoilHydro continues to study all opportunities to commercialise the second stage of Shah Deniz project. We will select the solution which is giving the best overall commercial result," Hausken said.
Under the SOCAR forecasts, gas production on the Shah Deniz field is to be increased to about 20 billion cubic meters per year within a few years due to the implementation of the "Stage 2".
According to data provided by BP, the proved gas reserves in the Caspian Sea, whose delimitation of borders have not yet fully completed is 83.84 trillion cubic meters. Azerbaijan, Russia and Kazakhstan have an agreement on the delimitation of their borders in the Caspian Sea. The determination of the status of the Caspian Sea remains on the agenda of Baku, Ashgabat and Tehran.
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