Azerbaijan plans to export liquefied gas to Europe
The Georgian government hopes to offer an
alternative route to the European markets for Azeri gas by building
a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal on the country's
Black Sea coast, the Business New Europe (BNE) magazine has quoted
First Deputy Minister of Energy, Mariam Valishvili, as saying. The
plan may come to fruition given Baku’s earlier statement voicing
interest in LNG exports.
"While getting Caspian and Central Asian gas to Europe without crossing Russian soil has proved difficult, that's not because of a shortage of ideas," the BNE said, adding that Tbilisi’s plan is "the latest alternative to the long-stalled EU-backed Nabucco gas export pipeline."
Valishvili explains that Azerbaijan and Romania recently signed an agreement for the export of Azeri gas arriving in Romania as LNG to Europe, for which an LNG export plant in Georgia would be an essential component. "We want to be part of that corridor," she says, explaining that gas could be supplied through the existing BP-operated South Caucasus gas pipeline (SCP), which is already carrying Azeri gas to Turkey via Georgia, and carried to the coast at Supsa, a Black Sea port city in western Georgia, through existing Soviet-era lines which are currently being rehabilitated. There the gas can be turned into LNG in a plant with an initial capacity of between 5bn-10bn cubic metres per year (cm/y), she says. That gas will then be shipped by special LNG tankers across the Black Sea to the Romanian port of Constanta, where Romania's state gas company Romgaz is already developing plans for an LNG import terminal.
Stressing that the project is still very much in the early stages and that both formal talks with Azerbaijan and a full technical feasibility study have yet to be launched, Valishvili explained that if given the go-ahead, the route could also be used to export gas from other Caspian region suppliers including gas-rich Turkmenistan, which currently has to export most of its gas through Russia. "In that case, the plant could be expanded to handle anything between 15bn–30bn cm/y," she said, adding that in that event LNG could be sent to terminals other than in Romania.
Resource-rich Azerbaijan, which is keen on expanding its pipeline export potential, is interested in transporting its liquefied gas to energy-thirsty European markets. Rovnag Abdullayev, the president of Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR, said earlier that if the project is deemed viable, Azerbaijan will build an LNG terminal in Kulevi.
However, any move to export LNG to terminals outside the Black Sea would risk scuppering Georgia's traditionally close relations with its western neighbour Turkey, which has long warned of the dangers of transiting hazardous cargoes through the narrow Turkish Straits, the BNE said. It warned that Turkey is unlikely to be pleased at the prospect of Georgia exporting Azeri gas even across the Black Sea, creating as it does an alternative to long mooted pipeline export routes across Turkey. Turkey already receives up to 6.6bn cm/y of gas from Azerbaijan's Shahdaniz gas field, which arrives through the 8.8bn cm/y SCP pipeline to be used both for domestic Turkish consumption and for re-export to Greece.*
"While getting Caspian and Central Asian gas to Europe without crossing Russian soil has proved difficult, that's not because of a shortage of ideas," the BNE said, adding that Tbilisi’s plan is "the latest alternative to the long-stalled EU-backed Nabucco gas export pipeline."
Valishvili explains that Azerbaijan and Romania recently signed an agreement for the export of Azeri gas arriving in Romania as LNG to Europe, for which an LNG export plant in Georgia would be an essential component. "We want to be part of that corridor," she says, explaining that gas could be supplied through the existing BP-operated South Caucasus gas pipeline (SCP), which is already carrying Azeri gas to Turkey via Georgia, and carried to the coast at Supsa, a Black Sea port city in western Georgia, through existing Soviet-era lines which are currently being rehabilitated. There the gas can be turned into LNG in a plant with an initial capacity of between 5bn-10bn cubic metres per year (cm/y), she says. That gas will then be shipped by special LNG tankers across the Black Sea to the Romanian port of Constanta, where Romania's state gas company Romgaz is already developing plans for an LNG import terminal.
Stressing that the project is still very much in the early stages and that both formal talks with Azerbaijan and a full technical feasibility study have yet to be launched, Valishvili explained that if given the go-ahead, the route could also be used to export gas from other Caspian region suppliers including gas-rich Turkmenistan, which currently has to export most of its gas through Russia. "In that case, the plant could be expanded to handle anything between 15bn–30bn cm/y," she said, adding that in that event LNG could be sent to terminals other than in Romania.
Resource-rich Azerbaijan, which is keen on expanding its pipeline export potential, is interested in transporting its liquefied gas to energy-thirsty European markets. Rovnag Abdullayev, the president of Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR, said earlier that if the project is deemed viable, Azerbaijan will build an LNG terminal in Kulevi.
However, any move to export LNG to terminals outside the Black Sea would risk scuppering Georgia's traditionally close relations with its western neighbour Turkey, which has long warned of the dangers of transiting hazardous cargoes through the narrow Turkish Straits, the BNE said. It warned that Turkey is unlikely to be pleased at the prospect of Georgia exporting Azeri gas even across the Black Sea, creating as it does an alternative to long mooted pipeline export routes across Turkey. Turkey already receives up to 6.6bn cm/y of gas from Azerbaijan's Shahdaniz gas field, which arrives through the 8.8bn cm/y SCP pipeline to be used both for domestic Turkish consumption and for re-export to Greece.*
Here we are to serve you with news right now. It does not cost much, but worth your attention.
Choose to support open, independent, quality journalism and subscribe on a monthly basis.
By subscribing to our online newspaper, you can have full digital access to all news, analysis, and much more.
Subscribe
You can also follow AzerNEWS on Twitter @AzerNewsAz or Facebook @AzerNewsNewspaper
Thank you!