Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr S. Aliyev / Gas production in the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field is profoundly restricted due to a lack of commercial demand, a source at the Government reported on 12 June.
At present, Azerbaijan produces gas in the amount of 5mln cu m per 24 hours. The gas is pumped into underground gasholders. Some 1mln cu m of gas per 24 hours is supplied to Georgia and within 2007, the country is guaranteed 250mln cu m at the price of $63/cu m. Turkey is not receiving gas through the South Caucasus Pipeline yet, despite the statement on its readiness to import it.
Three wells in the Shah Deniz field are ready for operation. When Turkey begins importing gas, production in the three wells will be at the rate of 15mln cu m per 24 hours.
Within Phase-1 of the development of the Shah Deniz project, 8.6bln cu m of gas will be produced. In 2007, 8bln cu m of gas will be produced in Shah Deniz.
The contract on the development of the off-shore Shah Deniz field was signed on 4 June 1996.
The contract parties are BP (operator) -25.5%, Statoil - 25.5%, NICO - 10%, Total - 10%, LukAgip - 10%, TPAO- 9% and SOCAR - 10%.