BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 6. Azerbaijan may cede five percent of its 21.02 percent share in the Shah Deniz gas condensate project on the Azerbaijani Caspian shelf to Uzbekneftegaz, a state-owned holding company of Uzbekistan's oil and gas industry, an informed source told Trend.
According to the source, the relevant negotiations have been going on for almost a year and could end in August 2024.
“In fact, in exchange for this, Azerbaijan can enter one of the Uzbek projects in the field of fuel and energy complexes,” the source added.
Previously, Uzbek Minister of Investment, Industry, and Trade Laziz Kudratov told reporters during his visit to Azerbaijan that Uzbekistan invited SOCAR (the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) to participate in oil and gas production projects in Uzbekistan, and the issue of Uzbekneftegaz's involvement in the Shah Deniz project is now in its final stages.
Kudratov expressed hope that Uzbekneftegaz's entry into the Shah Deniz project will take place in the coming months, maybe August, in Tashkent.
To note, the Shah Deniz project has been active since 1996, with the field development deal renewed in 2013 to continue until 2046.
The current participants in the project are bp (a production operator with a 29.99 percent stake), Lukoil (19.99 percent), TPAO (19 percent), NIKO (10 percent), and SGC Upstream (representing Azerbaijan's interests with 21.02 percent).
The Shah Deniz gas reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters, with roughly 20 percent extracted.
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