SOCAR: Nobody can stop Southern Gas Corridor project
The Southern Gas Corridor is not just a set of signed
agreements, it’s about billions of dollars already being invested,
and to stop such a project is impossible, said Vitaliy Baylarbayov,
Deputy Vice President for Investments and Marketing at SOCAR.
“We already committed to investing in the offshore Shah Deniz gas
field in the Caspian Sea and in the pipelines on the territory of
Azerbaijan and Georgia $12 billion," Baylarbayov said in an
interview to EurActiv. "These are contractual obligations already
materialized. This is money that is already in use. 30 percent of
the work that needs to be completed in the Caspian, in Azerbaijan
and in Georgia is already done.”
“To stop such a project is impossible, we cannot stop it. Our
partners cannot stop it, nobody can stop it – it’s impossible.
Commercially this is unfeasible,” he added.
Baylarbayov said that the Southern Gas Corridor continues to
develop dynamically, and the future of this corridor is interesting
enough and is linked to the diversification of gas sources.
“New sources of gas are the Absheron offshore gas field, where the
investors are Total and Gaz de France. And Azerbaijani fields Inam
and Babek will have investors who are not yet determined. This is
diversification at the scale of Azerbaijan. It could add at least
an additional 10 billion of cubic meters of gas per year to the
Corridor,” he said.
He also added that diversification will also come from other
countries.
“Gas from Central Asia is more and more frequently mentioned as the
next major source of diversification of supplies through the
Southern Gas Corridor. But in this case, it would be more precise
to speak about further expansion of the capacity of the Southern
Gas Corridor,” he said.
The Southern Gas Corridor project envisages transportation of gas
from the Caspian region through Georgia and Turkey to Europe.
This large project aims at diversifying the routes and sources of
energy supply that will enhance the energy security of Europe. The
Southern Gas Corridor project will ensure Caspian gas supply to the
European markets for the first time in history.
At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the second
phase of development of Azerbaijani gas condensate Shah Deniz field
is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor
project. At a later stage, other sources may join the project.
The gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of the field's
development will be exported to Turkey and to the 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).
Around six billion cubic meters of the total volume of gas within
the Shah Deniz-2 project will be delivered to Turkey and 10 billion
cubic meters to Europe per year.
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