Azernews.Az

BAKU – The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) announced on Wednesday that the Shahdaniz II natural gas field in Azerbaijan is the initial target of gas intended for the project, designed to offer the shortest and most-cost-effective gas supply to Italy and European markets.

In a joint statement, TAP shareholders EGL, Statoil and E.ON Ruhrgas said their planned pipeline was designed to cater for the volumes of gas from Shahdaniz that will be exported beyond Turkey to Europe.

Recently, Azerbaijan and Turkey signed a deal to ship 11 billion cubic metres of Azeri gas per year to Turkey. Shipments will start in 2017.

TAP shareholders consider Caspian gas to be the initial source of supplies to fill the pipeline, which has an initial capacity of 10 bcm per year.

"The TAP pipeline will be ready when Shahdaniz Phase 2 starts production." Kjetil Tungland, managing director of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline project, is quoted as saying.

According to the Statoil website, Phase 2 of Shahdaniz gas production is expected to start in 2016. One of TAP's partners, Norway's Statoil, has a 25.5% ownership share in the Shahdaniz gas field.

Shahdaniz is located in the Caspian Sea southeast of Baku and is Azerbaijan's largest gas field.

While peak production from Shahdaniz Phase 1 is projected at 8.6-9 billion cubic metres, gas production will be increased by another 16 billion cubic metres per year during Phase 2.

"The pipeline will not transport any Iranian gas under the current political circumstances," the TAP consortium adds.

Similarly, the Nabucco consortium recently ordered engineering work for two feeder lines from Turkey to Iraq and Georgia, while a third planned feeder line from Turkey to Iran has been put on the back-burner due to political considerations.

For its initial stage, Nabucco is also planning to carry Azeri gas. The volumes of gas from Shahdaniz II are apparently not unlimited, so the competing projects will seemingly have to bid for the country's gas.

Russia has repeatedly warned its European counterparts that different plans to bring gas from Turkmenistan or Azerbaijan are doomed to fail, claiming that the resources of the two Central Asian countries are insufficient.

Russia is also proposing to buy all Azeri gas at attractive prices.