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SGC biggest achievement of Azerbaijan’s energy strategy: SOCAR president

9 May 2018 17:33 (UTC+04:00)
SGC biggest achievement of Azerbaijan’s energy strategy: SOCAR president

By Trend

The Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) is a grandiose project and the biggest achievement of Azerbaijan’s energy strategy leading the country to new victories, president of Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR, Rovnag Abdullayev wrote in his article published in the "Azerbaijan” newspaper.

This strategy was established by the great leader Heydar Aliyev and is implemented under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, according to Abdullayev's article.

Abdullayev reminded that Azerbaijan is the initiator and driving force of the SGC, which is being built to supply gas to European markets.

“The SGC, being Europe’s biggest infrastructure project, covers a wide geography and will significantly change the energy map of the continent, further diversifying its energy security,” Abdullayev said.

Speaking about the individual components of the SGC, Abdullayev noted that the construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) has been completed by 93 percent and the work in this direction is on schedule.

This year, gas via TANAP will be transported to Turkey, and in early 2020, TANAP will connect to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), Abdullayev said, adding that the throughput capacity of the pipeline will be 16 billion cubic meters and at subsequent stages it can be brought to 31 billion cubic meters.

“The SGC is designed in such a way that its capacity can be doubled in the future,” he noted.

He said that in order to increase the volume of gas production in Azerbaijan in the future, preparatory work is carried out together with foreign companies at the Umid, Absheron and Karabakh fields.

The work at the Umid field will soon reach the stage of FEED (Front End Engineering Design), Abdullayev noted. The design work is also underway to begin drilling exploration wells at the Babek structure associated with this field, he added.

“Besides, engineering and design work is currently underway at the Absheron field as part of the early production scheme, and a final investment project is being prepared,” he said. “The first well at this field will be commissioned in 2019.”

The Southern Gas Corridor, worth over $40 billion, is considered as one of the priority energy projects for the EU, which strives for diversification of gas sources. The project envisages the transportation of gas from the Caspian region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey.

At an initial stage, the gas to be produced in the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.

As part of the Shah Deniz Stage 2, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

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