Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 24 / Trend, A.Badalova/
The progress of the TAP (Trans Adriatic Pipeline) project's depends on the first supplies from Shah Deniz gas condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, Michael Hoffmann, the director of external affairs and communications, said in an interview with Trend in Baku.
"We are aligning the TAP's schedule with the schedule (the first production) of Shah-Deniz-2 project," Hoffmann said.
The first gas production from Shah Deniz-2 is expected in early 2017.
Peak production at the field (first stage) is forecasted at over 8.6-9 billion cubic meters. During the second stage of development, the total gas production of the whole field will reach up to 25 billion cubic meters per year.
Reserves of the Shah Deniz field are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.
According to Hoffmann, the philosophy of TAP is to develop a project which is technically and commercially viable.
The Shah-Deniz consortium will make the decision on selling of the gas based on these two crucial aspects.
"First, they (Shah-Deniz project's partners) need to be sure that they can technically deliver gas to the market, and second - that they can do it in the most cost effective way," Hoffmann said.
The partners developing Azerbaijani large gas condensate field Shah Deniz plan to sign contracts to sell gas from the second stage of the project development in mid-2011.
The contract to develop the offshore Shah Deniz field was signed June 4, 1996. Participants to the agreement are: BP (operator) - 25.5 percent, Statoil - 25.5 percent, NICO - 10 percent, Total - 10 percent, LukAgip - 10 percent, TPAO - 9 percent, SOCAR-10 percent.
The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) AG is a proposed pipeline project. The 520km-long pipeline will start in Greece near Thessaloniki, cross Albania and the Adriatic Sea and come ashore in Italy near Brindisi, allowing gas to flow directly from the Caspian basin into European markets.
The offshore part of the pipeline starts near the Albanian city of Fier and crosses the Adriatic Sea to tie into Italy's gas transportation grid operated by SNAM ReteGas. In its upstream part, TAP will interconnect with the existing DESFA pipeline system in Greece, which is linked further to the east with systems in Turkey, to secure access to gas supplies in the Caspian Sea region.
The estimated cost of the project is 1.5 billion euro. The shareholders of the project are Norwegian Statoil, Swiss EGL and German E.ON Ruhrgas.