Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 11
By Aygun Badalova - Trend
The European Commission expects gas from the Shah Deniz II gas field in Azerbaijan to be transported to Europe by the end of 2019.
"In March I attended the opening ceremony of the Trans-Anatolian natural gas pipeline, known as TANAP. We expect that by the end of 2019 TANAP will be transporting 16 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey and Europe from the Shah Deniz II gas field in Azerbaijan which contains one of the largest gas deposits in the world," Vice-President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič said in its speech at the Energy Infrastructure Forum in Copenhagen.
He also noted that the work on the Southern Gas Corridor is seeing progress.
The Central Eastern and South-eastern European Gas Connectivity (CESEC) is a key initiative to ensure the creation of a truly cross-regional competitive energy market in Central and South Eastern Europe and to make it possible for every country to have access to at least three different gas sources, according to Šefčovič.
"CESEC held its first summit in February and in July, the participating countries already put forward a rigorous implementation of the most crucial gas infrastructure projects," he said.
However, according to Šefčovič, there are still major interconnection links which are missing.
"Building these interconnections will require the mobilisation of efforts at all levels. The Commission is strongly committed to assist the Member States in the reinforcement of regional cooperation through the establishment of high level groups," Šefčovič said.
The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for EU. It envisages the transportation of gas from the Caspian Sea region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey.
At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.
As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.