Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Azerbaijan, a resource-rich South Caucasus republic with a good potential for oil and gas development and export, is on way to be a strong oil and natural gas supplier, particularly for Europe.

In an interview with the Respublika newspaper, Industry and Energy Minister Natig Aliyev said that Azerbaijan will act as a reliable and a major supplier of gas to the world market for over 100 years.

Azerbaijan will be a reliable gas supplier to Europe, as the Shah Deniz will pave the way and open up new opportunities, he said.

The minister said that as a part of provision of the Azerbaijani gas supply to Europe, it was decided to build a Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP), which envisages transporting gas from Azerbaijan's giant Shah Deniz field to Europe through Turkey.

Gas to be produced within the Shah Deniz-2 project is the main source for the TAP, which in June was selected as a route for transportation of Azerbaijani gas to European markets.
The contracts on the purchase of Azerbaijani gas from the second phase of Shah Deniz field development (Shah Deniz-2 project) were signed with Shell, Bulgar gas, Gas Natural Fenosa, EON, Gaz de France, Hera, Enel, Axpo, DEPA in Baku on September 19.

He went on to say that the policy of diversification in the energy sector, implemented by Azerbaijan as a whole makes a qualitatively new changes in the global fuel market.

"Also, these factors form the basis for the transformation of our country into a major and reliable supplier of gas to the world market," Aliyev said.

The republic has proven gas reserves of 2.2 trillion cubic meters and plans to double its natural gas output to some 54 billion cubic meters a year by 2020.

Over the entire period of hydrocarbons production in Azerbaijan over 665 billion cubic meters of gas have been extracted. The country produced more than 1.8 billion tons of oil during this period.