Azerbaijan, Baku, 13 March / Trend E. Ismayilov /
SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) intends to retain at least 51 per cent of the equity in the Trans-Anatolian pipeline project (TANAP), a senior representative of SOCAR told reporters.
Presently, a 20 per cent share in TANAP belongs to Turkish BOTAS and TPAO, while 80 per cent is owned by SOCAR.
The SOCAR representative said that only 29 per cent out of 80 per cent will be provided for participation of other shareholders and in particular, partners developing the Azerbaijani offshore gas condensate field Shah Deniz.
The TANAP project envisages construction of the pipeline from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border to supply gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas field to Europe through Turkey. The initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters a year. About six billion cubic meters will be delivered to Turkey and the rest to Europe.
Also, according to the SOCAR representative, technical and commercial negotiations are continuing to be held on the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project and Nabucco West pipeline project. The subject of discussions is the regulation of relations between the shareholders.
Negotiations with potential buyers on the possibility of the distribution of gas volumes depending on the geographic location and the primary gas prices are conducted simultaneously.
Currently, the Shah Deniz consortium is considering two options for its gas transportation to Europe - TAP and Nabucco West. The final decision on the pipeline route will be made in June 2013.
Reserves of the Shah Deniz field are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.
The contract to develop the offshore Shah Deniz field was signed on June 4, 1996. Participants to the agreement are: BP (operator) - 25.5 per cent, Statoil - 25.5 per cent, NICO - 10 per cent, Total - 10 per cent, Lukoil - 10 per cent, TPAO - nine per cent and SOCAR - 10 per cent.