Azernews.Az

The development of Azerbaijani gas condensate field Shah Deniz is a very important project from the infrastructure point of view, a senior official at the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan ( SOCAR) told reporters on Friday.

According to him, the Shah Deniz project provides for the implementation of projects both in the Caspian region and beyond.

"Alongside, Azerbaijan will produce gas from other fields and other projects will be considered. As for the Nabucco gas pipeline project, sooner or later we will get the gas to fill the pipeline," the source said.

According to the representative of the State Oil Company, the selection of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project was motivated by commercial interests and not a political decision.

On Friday, the consortium for the development of Azerbaijani gas condensate field Shah Deniz officially announced the selection of TAP as the transportation route for its gas to European markets.

The TAP project is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to the south of Italy and further to Western Europe.

The gas produced within the second phase of development of Azerbaijani gas condensate field Shah Deniz is regarded as the main source for the project.

TAP's initial pipeline capacity will be 10 billion cubic metres per year, but is easily expandable to 20 billion cubic metres per year. TAP's shareholders are AXPO of Switzerland (42.5 per cent), Norway's Statoil (42.5 per cent) and E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany (15 per cent).

Construction of TAP is expected to start in 2015.