BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 10
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector (AGRI) project is currently frozen, Azerbaijan’s Energy Ministry told Trend.
The ministry recalled that presidents of Azerbaijan, Romania and Georgia and Hungary’s prime minister signed a declaration on AGRI project on Sept.24, 2010.
"AGRI project envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to the Black Sea coast of Georgia via gas pipelines. Azerbaijani gas delivered to Georgia's Black Sea coast will be liquefied at a special terminal and following this, it will be delivered in tankers to a terminal at the Romanian port of Constanta.
Further, it will be brought to the gaseous state and sent via Romanian gas infrastructure for meeting the demands of Romania and other European countries.
The project participants are Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, Georgia’s Oil and Gas Corporation, Hungary’s MVM company and Romania’s Romgaz with 25 percent share for each," said the energy ministry.
The project’s cost is estimated at 1.2-4.5 billion euros depending on the terminals’ capacity, which can vary between 2 and 8 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
Turkmenistan is highly interested in the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector project. To supply this project with Turkmen gas, it is necessary to build a separate gas pipeline along the Caspian seabed to the coast of Azerbaijan or to deliver liquefied gas through the sea via tankers.
It is expected that the AGRI gas pipelines system project (Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector), which provides for the transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, will be implemented after 2024-2026.
Presently, the shareholders of the AGRI LNG project company are discussing issues related to the further development and implementation of the AGRI project, presumably after 2024-2026, when the second stage of development of Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field and other fields will be completed.
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