Azernews.Az

The partners developing Azerbaijani offshore gas field Shah Deniz are working to start implementing the second stage of developing this field, which is estimated at $ 28 billion, state oil company SOCAR's head Rovnag Abdullayev said at the Caspian Forum in Istanbul on Thursday, Trend news agency reported.

Additional 16 billion cubic meters of gas a year will be extracted within the second stage of developing the field. About 6 billion of this volume will be delivered to Turkey and 10 billion to Europe, Abdullayev said.

He said that Baku will not confine to this. In the future it is planned to commission such major fields as Absheron, Umid, Babak and develop deep gas from Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli block of fields.

Currently, the proven recoverable reserves in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea are estimated at 2.55 trillion cubic meters of gas. Total gas potential is estimated at 6 trillion cubic meters. Azerbaijan's total reserves along with oil reserves (recoverable and prospective) can be estimated at 10 billion tons of fuel, SOCAR head said.

He said that by 2025 Azerbaijan's export potential will reach a minimum of 40-50 billion cubic meters of gas and most of it will be transported to Europe and Turkey.

Abdullayev said a reliable transportation infrastructure, which is able to expand, is required to transport such a large volume of gas. Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) will be such a system. Its capacity at the first phase will be 16 billion cubic meters a year, with the possibility of future expansion to 30 billion cubic meters. In the future, it is planned to transport gas from the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea via this route in the future, Abdullayev said.

He said that TANAP will form the basis of the Southern Gas Corridor, promoted by Europe and actively supported by Azerbaijan. At present, the options of delivering Azerbaijani gas to Europe upon long-term contracts are being considered. Nabucco and TAP projects are among them. The final decision will be taken in 2013.

Abdullayev said that Azerbaijan is playing the role of a reliable supplier of gas to Europe. Azerbaijani oil was supplied to the market of the Mediterranean Sea after commissioning the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan gas pipeline. It was the first oil for Europe, which was not of Russian origin or OPEC countries, which allowed it to play a big role in providing Europe with energy.

"At present, we consider resolving the existing problems in the energy security by providing consumers with uninterrupted, reliable energy supply as a strategic priority," he said. "The diversification of energy supply routes will create conditions to resolve the issues of energy security in the region."