Turkey, Istanbul, Dec. 6 / Trend special corr. A. Badalova /
The partners developing the Azerbaijani gas field "Shah Deniz" are working to start implementing the second stage of field development, which is estimated at $ 28 billion, SOCAR head Rovnag Abdullayev said at the Caspian Forum in Istanbul today.
An additional 16 billion cubic meters of gas a year will be extracted within the second stage of developing the field. Around 6 billion of this volume will be delivered to Turkey and 10 billion to Europe, Abdullayev said.
He said that Baku will not stop here. In the future, the commission of such major fields as "Absheron", "Umid", "Babak" are planned as well as the development of deep gas from the "Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli" fields.
Currently, the proven recoverable reserves in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea are estimated at 2.55 trillion cubic meters of gas. Total gas potential is estimated at 6 trillion cubic meters. Azerbaijan's total reserves along with oil reserves (recoverable and prospective) can be estimated at 10 billion tons of fuel, SOCAR head said.
He said that by 2025 Azerbaijan's export potential will reach a minimum of 40-50 billion cubic meters of gas and most of it will be transported to Europe and Turkey.
A reliable and expandable transportation infrastructure is required to transport such a large volume of gas. The Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) will be such a system. Its capacity at the first phase will be 16 billion cubic meters a year, with the possibility of future expansion up to 30 billion cubic meters. The transport of gas from the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea via this route is planned for the future, Abdullayev said.
He said that TANAP will form the basis of the Southern Gas Corridor, promoted by Europe and actively supported by Azerbaijan. At present, the variants of delivering Azerbaijani gas to Europe upon long-term contracts are being considered. Nabucco and TAP projects are among them. The final decision will be taken in 2013.
Abdullayev said that Azerbaijan is playing the role of a reliable supplier of gas to Europe. Azerbaijani oil was supplied to the Mediterranean market after commissioning the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan gas pipeline. It was the first oil of non-Russian or OPEC origin consumed in Europe, which gave it considerable notoriety.
"At present, we are considering resolving existing energy security problems by providing consumers with an uninterrupted and reliable energy supply as a strategic priority," he said. "The diversification of energy supply routes will create the conditions necessary to resolve the issues of energy security in the region."