Azerbaijan plans to sign deals on Shah Deniz gas sales
By Gulgiz Dadashova
A number of agreements are expected to be signed in the near future on purchase and sale of Azerbaijani gas to be produced within the Shah Deniz 2 development project, which will reach its peak production in 2022.
President of the Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev said that the work within the project is underway particularly with the buyers.
"It is planned to hold a major event, during which agreements will be signed with the buyers of Azerbaijani gas," Abdullayev said.
Earlier, BP Azerbaijan, which is part of the international consortium developing Azerbaijan's giant Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea, has announced that the terms of the sale of gas to be supplied from the Caspian Sea to Europe via Trans-Adriatic Pipeline have been agreed with a number of buyers in Italy, Greece and Bulgaria.
"These arrangements will be finalized in September," the company said.
TAP will transport natural gas from the giant Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan to the most attractive markets in Europe.
The pipeline will connect with Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) near the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, across Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in southern Italy.
Designed to expand the capacity from 10 to 20 bcm per year, TAP will open up the so-called Southern Gas Corridor. TAP will act as the link to Azerbaijan and other gas producers in the Caspian Sea and wider region, thereby enhancing Europe's energy security, by providing a new source of gas.
The Shah Deniz field, which is one of the world's largest gas-condensate fields, was discovered in 1999. Its reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. Overall, the field has proved to be a secure and reliable supplier of gas to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey as well as Europe.
According to British BP's annual report, the volume of gas production from Azerbaijan's giant Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea amounted to approximately 7.73 billion cubic meters of gas and nearly 16.1 million barrels of condensate in 2012.
Internal and external exports from the Shah Deniz field amounted to around 37.6 billion cubic meters of gas, as well as 80 million barrels of condensate from the beginning of production at the end of 2006 to the end of 2012.
Currently, the potential daily volume of production at Shah Deniz is 27.3 million cubic meters of gas (depending on demand) and 55,000 barrels of condensate.