Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend S.Aliyev / Kamal Abbasov, Head of the Gas Operations Department of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), stated in a meeting with the Caspian Integration Club on 4 May, that SOCAR is discussing the Shah Deniz project and the opportunities for an increase in gas production of 1bn cu m/year under Stage 1.
The increase in gas production from the Shah Deniz field may occur in 2008.
"Furthermore, the issue of investment into increased gas production is also under consideration," he added.
Within the framework of Stage 1 of the Shahdaniz development project, 8.6bln cu m of gas will be produced per year. In 2007, 2.8bln cu m of gas will be produced on Shahdaniz. In the occurrence of an increase of production by 1bln cu m, partners in plateau can achieve up to 9.6bln cu m.
Abdullayev said that this additional gas will not only be sold within existing contracts with Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. It will be a completely different price," he said. The next well will be put into operation on the field on 24-25 May. At present, the production from the Shah Deniz field is 10mln cu m of gas per day.
Between January and March, production from the Shah Deniz field was 172.25mln cu m of gas, or 23% more than the forecast. In March, the field produced 115.34mln cu m of gas.