Azernews.Az

The partners in the development of Azerbaijan’s giant Shahdaniz field in the Caspian Sea welcome Tuesday’s signing of agreements to purchase Azerbaijani gas and its transit to Europe between Azerbaijan and Turkey, BP Azerbaijan spokesperson Tamam Bayatly has said.

"The signed agreements will contribute to BP and its partners' efforts to tap the Shahdaniz field, making a final investment decision on the implementation of the second phase of its development, as well as the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor projects," Bayatly told the local press on Wednesday.

She said the signing of the documents will allow the Shahdaniz consortium to continue choosing a pipeline for gas exports to Europe, as well as approve an agreement on gas sales with potential buyers.

The transit deal is necessary for the implementation of a slew of ambitious EU-backed pipeline projects aiming to transport Azerbaijani gas to European markets as part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which will diversify sources of energy for European countries.

The signing of the long-awaited transit deal was announced on Tuesday by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan at a joint news conference with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in the Turkish city of Izmir. Details on the accord were not available, but Azerbaijan was negotiating to sell Ankara 6 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas per year from the second phase of the Shahdaniz development, which begins in 2017, and to ship 10 bcm to European customers via Turkey.

Turkey and Azerbaijan also signed on Tuesday agreements on the cost of Azerbaijani gas to be supplied to Turkey during Phase 2 of Shahdaniz development, and the volume of gas deliveries to the neighboring country after 2017.

The Shahdaniz field holds estimated reserves of 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.

Shahdaniz shareholders are: BP (25.5 percent), Statoil (25.5 percent), NICO (10 percent), Total (10 percent), Lukoil (10 percent), TPAO (9 percent) and Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR (10 percent).