Baku, Azerbaijan, May 10
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
The capacity of the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) will hit 31 billion cubic meters per year in 2026, according to the article of Khoshbakht Yusifzadeh, the First Vice-President of State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), published in the Respublika newspaper on May 8.
The pipeline's capacity will reach 23 billion cubic meters of gas in 2013, according to the article.
The TANAP project envisages gas transportation from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field to Europe via Turkey.
The pipeline will be commissioned in mid-2018 with the initial capacity of 16 billion cubic meters per year.
"About six billion cubic meters of gas will be delivered to Turkey and the rest to Europe. Thus, the Southern Gas Pipeline idea will be fully implemented," Yusifzadeh wrote.
The article says that at the initial stage, the gas, to be produced within the second phase of development of the Shah-Deniz field, will be delivered to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Albania, Italy and Bulgaria. At the following stages, Montenegro and Croatia will also be supplied with this gas. Moreover, it is planned to deliver the Caspian Sea gas to Romania, Hungary and Austria in the subsequent years.
The Southern Gas Corridor is a project that will allow Europe to diversify its sources of hydrocarbon supply and strengthen energy security and enable Azerbaijan to get a new market in Europe.
The final investment decision was made on the second phase of the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz offshore gas and condensate field's development on December 17, 2013.
The gas to be produced within the second phase of the field's development will be exported to Turkey and to European markets by means of expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and construction of the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
The consortium for the development of the Shah Deniz gas condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, signed long term contracts (25 years) with nine European companies on gas supply in September 2013.
The contracts for the purchase of gas from the second phase of development of the Shah Deniz field were signed in Baku with the following companies: Shell, Bulgar Gas, DEPA, Gas Natural Fenosa, EON, Gaz de France, Hera, Enel and Axpo.
The first gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018 and to Europe in 2019.
The contract for development of the Shah Deniz offshore field, which has proven reserves of 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas, was signed on June 4, 1996.
Participants in the Shah Deniz field development are the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) with a share of 16.7 percent, British BP (28.8 percent), Norway's Statoil (15.5 percent), Iran's NICO (10 percent), French Total (10 percent), Russia's Lukoil (10 percent), Turkish TPAO (nine percent).
Translated by L.Z.
