Azernews.Az

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Tuesday received a delegation headed by Jean-Francois Cirelli, Vice Chairman of the Board and Deputy Managing Director of GDF Suez SA.
Cirelli is also the president of EU Natural Gas Industry (Eurogas), which includes about 50 major gas industry facilities and energy associations.
The GDF SUEZ president spoke about the company’s operations in Europe. Cirelli said he was interested in further expansion of gas cooperation with Azerbaijan.
President Aliyev highly assessed the successful cooperation between GDF SUEZ and Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR.
Cirelli said earlier that Gaz de France Suez was seeking to buy Azerbaijani gas, and is particularly interested in Phase 2 of the project on developing Azerbaijan’s giant Shahdaniz field in the Caspian Sea.
Gaz de France Suez supplies European markets with 30 percent of gas - or some 100 billion cubic meters. The company receives about 20 percent of its gas from Russia, 40 percent from Norway, and the remaining 40 percent from the Netherlands, Egypt and Algeria.
Gaz de France Suez is also involved in exploration on the Absheron structure. Exploration wells valued at $200 million will be drilled at the field soon.
Absheron participating interests are: SOCAR (40 percent), Total (40 percent) and Gaz De France Suez (20 percent).
The Absheron block is located 100 kilometers outside Baku at a depth of 500 meters. According to projections, about 5,000 meters will be drilled by late 2010. The reservoir will be reached by January or February. Drilling will be carried out at 470-480 meter depth. The well depth will reach 7,100-7,200 meters.*