Baku, Azerbaijan, June 5
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
The Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) will be commissioned in mid-2018, Khoshbakht Yusifzadeh, the First Vice-President of State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) said on June 5, at the 21st International Caspian Oil and Gas-2014 Conference held in Baku.
Yusifzadeh underscored that the pipeline will be able to operate in the full capacity of 31 billion cubic meters in 2026.
Talking about the gas production at the Shah Deniz field, SOCAR's first vice-president said that as of June 1, 2014, around 52 billion cubic meters of gas and 13.5 million tonnes of condensates have been produced at the field.
He went on to add that some 28 billion cubic meters of the gas produced at the Shah Deniz field till June 1, was exported to Turkey and around 3.9 billion cubic meters was transported to Georgia.
The TANAP project envisages transporting gas from the Shah Deniz field through Turkey up to the country's border with Europe.
The pipeline's initial capacity is expected to be 16 billion cubic meters per year. About six billion cubic meters of gas will be delivered to Turkey and the rest to Europe. The pipeline's capacity can be further expanded to 31 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
TANAP shareholders plan to lay the pipeline's foundation in the second quarter of 2014 and commission it in 2018. TANAP project's cost is estimated at $10 billion to $11 billion.
On December 17, 2013, a final investment decision was made on the Stage 2 of the 'Shah Deniz' offshore gas and condensate field's development. The gas produced at this field will first go to the European market.
The gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of the field's development will be exported to Turkey (six billion cubic meters per year) and to the European markets (10 billion cubic meters per year) by means of expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and construction of the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
Partners operating for Shah Deniz field's development, which has reserves of 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas, include SOCAR with a share of 16.7 percent, British BP (28.8 percent), Norwegian Statoil (15.5 percent), Iranian NICO (10 percent), Russian Lukoil (10 percent) and Turkish TPAO (19 percent).
Turkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortaklıgı (TPAO) and 'Total Azerbaijan' companies signed a contract on May 30 in Istanbul on the purchase and sale of Total's 10 percent share in the project of development of Azerbaijan's 'Shah Deniz' offshore gas and condensate field. Under the contract, the TPAO's share in this project increased to 19 percent.
Moreover, SOCAR and Turkey's state-owned Botas Pipeline Company have signed a contract for the sale of SOCAR's 10 percent share in the TANAP project. The purchase and sale contract was signed on May 30 in Istanbul.
After completing the deals with BP and Botas, SOCAR's share in the TANAP project will be equal to 58 percent. And the shares of BP and Botas will be 12 percent and 30 percent, respectively.
Edited by S.I.