Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 4, by E. Ismayilov - Trend:
Supplying Azerbaijani gas from the Shah Deniz gas condensate field to Europe will be one of the largest engineering and construction projects in the world, member of the House of Lords of the British Parliament and Chairman of Global Counsel Peter Mandelson said at the International Ecology Conference in Baku on Monday.
According to Mandelson, after the final investment decision is made within the second phase of development of Shah Deniz field, the project of Azerbaijani gas supplies to Europe will be the largest infrastructure project involving the British company (in this case - BP).
SOCAR and BP partnership laid the foundation for the success of both companies, Mandelson said.
"The implementation of the project of Azerbaijani gas supplies testifies to the fact that Azerbaijan sets the standards in the field of oil and gas production in 19th century and early 21st century," Mandelson said.
In late June, the Shah Deniz Consortium selected the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) as the route to transport its gas to European markets. The gas that will be produced as part of the second phase of the field's development will be the main source for the TAP.
The final investment decision on Shah Deniz 2 project is planned to be taken in late 2013. The first gas supplies to Turkey as part of this project will start in 2018, and to Europe in 2019.
TAP is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and then to Western Europe.
The initial capacity of the TAP pipeline will be 10 billion cubic meters per year with the possibility of expanding to 20 billion cubic meters per year.
The reserves of the Shah Deniz field are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. The contract for development of the Shah Deniz offshore field was signed in June 1996.
The agreement's participants are: BP (operator) - 25.5 percent, Statoil - 25.5 percent, NICO - 10 percent, Total - 10 percent, Lukoil - 10 percent, TPAO - nine percent, SOCAR - 10 percent.