Azernews.Az

By Ayya Lmahamad

The annual gas production from the Shah Deniz field, which is the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor, is expected to reach 18.7 billion cubic meters this year and 25.3 billion cubic meters in 2023, Azerbaijan Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov ha said.

Shahbazov made the remarks during the 7th IEF-IGU Ministerial Gas Forum was held under the theme “Towards Recovery and Shared Prosperity: Natural Gas Opportunities for a Sustainable World”.

It was noted during the meeting that so far, approximately 133 billion cubic meters of gas have been extracted and more that 88.6 billion cubic meters of gas were exported from this field.

Moreover, the minister noted that gas production in Azerbaijan is projected at 38 billion cubic meters this year and is expected to reach approximately 50 billion cubic meters in 2023.

Furthermore, speaking at the Ministerial Roundtable on the topic “Opportunities in Growing Gas Markets: Producer-Consumer Perspective on New Realities", the minister briefed the participants on the Southern Gas Corridor project, emphasizing that natural gas will be transported to Europe by the end of this year.

Likewise, touching upon the South Caucasus Pipeline, TANAP and TAP pipeline, the minister noted that these pipelines also have the potential to increase transport capacity in future and expand the Southern Gas Corridor to a wider geography, including Southeast Europe and the Balkans.

Additionally, it was noted that military threats to energy, including gas infrastructure in Azerbaijan remained in the past, as the 30-year Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was ended, by the liberation of all occupied territories as a result of the counter-offensive operation and subsequent political settlement of Azerbaijan.

The forum, hosted by the Malaysian government in a virtual format, exchanged views on the role of natural gas in growing markets, new prospectives in the natural gas markets, energy policies and business strategies that will serve a sustainable future and support dynamic development in the world gas markets.

About 100 high-level government officials, including ministers, industry leaders, heads of international organizations and experts attended at the forum.

The contract on development of Shah Deniz gas field was signed in 1996. Shareholders of Shah Deniz project are: BP (operator, 28.8 percent), TPAO (19 percent), SOCAR (16.7 percent), Petronas (15.5 percent), LUKOIL (10 percent) and NICO (10 percent).

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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad

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