Turkey`s TPAO invested $3.4bn in Azeri projects
The Turkish oil company TPAO has invested $3.4 billion in oil, gas and pipeline projects in Azerbaijan from 1994 to late 2011, the financial manager at TPAO representative office in Azerbaijan told the Baku-based Trend news agency.
Hakan Erbash said this is Turkey`s biggest state investments in Azerbaijan`s economy.
He also stressed that the company`s revenues from all energy projects totaled $5.3 billion from the beginning of TPAO`s operation in the resource-rich South Caucasus republic.
In Azerbaijan, TPAO is involved in the projects to develop Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) block of oil fields and Shah Deniz gas condensate field in the Caspian Sea, as well as such major pipeline projects as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and South Caucasus Pipeline, a section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum (BTE) gas pipeline. The company also participates in the exploration and development of the offshore Araz-Alov-Sharg block of fields.
``About $2.3 billion has been invested in the ACG development project by our company from the beginning of its activity in Azerbaijan,`` Erbash said. ``This is the first project in Azerbaijan in which TPAO began taking part.``
He said the company`s investments in the ACG project will continue until 2024, but the amount of investments will depend on the block`s production volume.
The contract to develop the ACG fields in which TPAO holds 6.75 per cent was signed in 1994. Other ACG shareholders are BP (operator - 35.78 per cent), Socar (11.65 per cent), Chevron (11.27 per cent), Inpex (10.96 per cent), Statoil (8.56 per cent), ExxonMobil (8 per cent), Itochu (4.3 per cent) and Hess (2.72 per cent).
So far, TPAO has paid taxes in the amount of $650 million to the Azerbaijani state budget within the ACG project. The figure will be $120-130 million this year, Erbash said.
He said TPAO`s investments as a participant in the South Caucasus Pipeline and Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline projects have been completed.
The company has invested $120 million in the implementation of the SCP project and $324-325 million in the BTC project.
The 1,768 km BTC pipeline transports oil produced from the ACG fields and condensate from the Shahdaniz field. BTC shareholders include BP (30.1% - operator), SOCAR (25%), Chevron (8.9%), Statoil Hydro (8.71%), TPAO (6.53%), ENI (5%), Total (5%), Itochu (3.40%), Inpex (2.5%), ConocoPhillips (2.5%) and Hess (2.36%).
The length of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline is more than 700 kilometers. Gas produced from Shah Deniz gas field is transported through the pipeline. Gas is supplied to Georgia and Turkey.
TPAO`s investments in Azerbaijan are expected to increase if the Araz-Alov-Sharg field begins to be developed. The project is currently frozen due to the Caspian Sea`s unresolved status.
TPAO representative in Azerbaijan Barysh Bozkaya told Trend that three-dimensional seismic work had been carried out under the Araz-Alov-Sharg project. In case agreement is reached on the legal status of the Caspian, work on implementing the project will continue, he said.
Touching upon TPAO`s operations in other countries, Bozkaya noted that in addition to Azerbaijan the company operates in Iraq, Libya and Kazakhstan. In Iraq TPAO is involved in tapping four fields. In one of these projects TPAO is the operator, and in the others it participates in the consortium with Chinese, South Korean, Malaysian, Kuwaiti and Russian companies.
``Also, TPAO, through its division TPIC, is working at two fields in Colombia,`` Bozkaya said.
Along with the work abroad, TPAO operates on the Black Sea coast of Turkey. At these sites work is being done in cooperation with such companies as Chevron, ExxonMobil and Petrobras, and an agreement with Shell to conduct exploration in the Mediterranean was signed.
Bozkaya also said TPAO intends to open a representative office in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus where new exploration work will start.