Azerbaijan, Baku, June 4 / Trend E.Ismayilov /
Participants of the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector (AGRI) pipeline project will themselves fund the preparation of a feasibility study for the project, a senior representative of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) said.
"All companies-participants in the project are willing to finance the preparation of the feasibility study. The project involves four companies and, accordingly, the cost will be divided into four parts," the source said.
The amount of funds required to prepare the feasibility study, will be known after the submission of proposals to the design company that will won a tender to be announced soon.
The tender results will be announced in late summer. Accordingly, the project participants expect to receive a feasibility study in February-March next year.
Participants of the project are Azerbaijani SOCAR, Oil and Gas Corporation of Georgia, the Romanian ROMGAZ and Hungarian MVM. Each has a 25 percent shareholding. In the future, Bulgaria also can join the project.
The AGRI project envisages transporting Azerbaijani gas via pipelines to the Black Sea coast of Georgia, where the gas will be liquefied at a special terminal. The gas will then be delivered to a terminal at the Romanian port of Constanta via tankers. Later, the liquefied gas will be brought into the state of natural gas and will be directed towards covering the needs of Romania and other European countries.
It is expected that Turkmenistan, by participating in the project as a supplier, could supply liquefied natural gas across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan for further transit to Europe.
Cost of the AGRI project can vary from 1.2 billion to 4.5 billion euros.