Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 11 / Trend E. Ismayilov /
The consortium developing the Shah Deniz gas condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea in the first quarter of next year will announce the end gas buyers within the second stage of the field's development. The buyers will be chosen based on a short list of candidates, Reuters reported with reference to RWE Supply and Trading Executive Director Stefan Judisch.
The contract to develop Shah Deniz was signed June 4, 1996. Participants are BP (operator) - 25.5 percent, Statoil Hydro - 25.5 percent, NICO - 10 percent, Total - 10 percent, LukAgip - 10 percent, TPAO - 9 percent, and the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) - 10 percent.
Peak production is forecast at over 8.6-9 billion cubic meters. Gas production may be brought up to 25 billion cubic meters per year under the second stage of development.
"We are in talks with the Shah Deniz partners and I am optimistic about Nabucco," Judisch said at a press briefing.
SOCAR plays a leading role in the negotiation of gas sales within the second phase of the field's development.
A high-ranking SOCAR representative told Trend that the Shah Deniz partners in Azerbaijan are negotiating with potential European gas buyers to sign a contract on the second stage of the field's development. The contracts will be signed by October 2011. The final financial decision will be made that month. The initial decision will be made in March 2011.
First gas will be received in late 2016-early 2017, a SOCAR representative said.
Judisch said the third round of talks with the BP-led (BP.L) Shah Deniz II gas field consortium in Azerbaijan were scheduled for Nov. 12.
Participants of the Nabucco gas pipeline project, including RWE, hope to receive significant amounts of gas from Azerbaijan and Iraq to fill the pipeline. Shah Deniz may be a gas source for Nabucco. Turkmenistan is considered as another supplier of "blue fuel" with which the consortium is negotiating.