Azerbaijan’s gas reserves booked until 2044
By Gulgiz Dadashova
The gas to be produced from the Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea has been distributed until 2044.
This was announced by Deputy Energy Minister Natig Abbasov, who added that Azerbaijan annually draws up the fuel balance, which takes into account the entire energy as power, and oil and gas, given the rising number of consumers.
“As for the gas to be produced in the future and to be supplied for export, we have already signed agreements for 25 years with nine companies from eight countries. Under these agreements, some 16 billion cubic meters of gas have been also distributed - 10 billion cubic meters will be exported to Europe and the remaining 6 billion cubic meters – to Turkey,” he told Trend.
The $45 billion Southern Corridor project, signed in 2013, would deliver Caspian gas directly to Europe, starting in 2020. In 2018, the gas will reach Turkey and in early 2020 customers in Greece, Bulgaria and Italy will start receiving gas from Shah Deniz.
The Shah Deniz reserves are estimated at between 1.5 billion barrels to 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent from 50 to 100 billion cubic meters of gas. The Shah Deniz field also contains gas condensate in excess of 400 million cubic meters.
Regarding the imports of Russian gas to meet the needs of the AzMeCo methanol plant, Abbasov said that this is just a consequence of the fact that the plant didn’t conclude a contract with the state oil company in time, and its needs weren’t reflected in the fuel balance of Azerbaijan for 2015.
“Currently, we are working on the fuel balance for 2016, and the document will be approved in January 2016,” he said, adding that the needs of the methanol plant will also be taken into account in the fuel balance of 2016.
The deputy minister also touched upon the stage of work regarding the Southern Gas Corridor project, noting that the work on the project is even slightly ahead of schedule.
“To date, the work is carried out on schedule, even a little ahead of it,” Abbasov said. “I think that the work will be completed in 2019, as it was planned.”
Azerbaijan's gas reserves are more than three trillion cubic meters which helps the development of the country's export potential, said earlier Rovnag Abdullayev, the president of Azerbaijan's energy giant SOCAR.
The energy-rich South Caucasus nation’s plans over the Southern Gas Corridor, designed to bring the Caspian gas to Europe, is not limited to the Shah-Deniz 2 project.
While the focus is on the Shah-Deniz field with estimated gas reserves at 1.2 trillion cubic meters, Azerbaijan possess additional significant gas fields such as Absheron, Umid, Babek and Nakhchivan, of which Absheron field is projected to be commenced in 2021.
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