Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.6
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
The choosing of the Trans-Adriatic (TAP) gas pipeline as a route of exporting Azerbaijani gas to Europe, will also lead to an increase of investments alongside the rational use of energy resources and strengthening of energy security, according to an article by Azerbaijani Energy Minister Natig Aliyev published in the Azerbaijan newspaper on Feb.5.
The Southern Gas Corridor is a project that will allow Europe to diversify its sources of hydrocarbon supply and strengthen energy security and for Azerbaijan to get a new market in Europe.
As a shorter and cheaper route, TAP will speed up the process of opening the Southern Gas Corridor which is a new step towards turning Azerbaijan into a reliable guarantor of Europe's energy security, the minister said.
Important achievements such as the development of fields and promising structures in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea are expected as a result of starting the Southern Gas Corridor's operation, Aliyev said.
The final investment decision on the second phase of development of the Shah Deniz gas condensate field where gas will go first to the European market was adopted in Baku on Dec.17, 2013.
Gas within the second stage of the field's development will be exported to Europe through the expansion of the South Caucasus gas pipeline and construction of the Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic (TAP) gas pipelines.
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. TAP shareholders are BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Statoil (20 percent), Fluxys (16 percent), Total (10 percent), E.ON (nine percent) and Axpo (five percent).
Translated by L.Z.
Edited by S.M.