Georgia, EU discuss energy issues
By Jamila Babayeva
The European Union supports the idea of Georgia's accession to European Energy Association, the office of the Georgian prime minister reported.
The announcement was made during a meeting between Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and European Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger in Tbilisi.
With regard to preparations for Georgia's accession to the organization, negotiations on this issue will last about six to eight months, and the relevant agreement will be signed by October 2014.
The parties also discussed a number of energy projects and the special attention was paid to the issue of implementation of the second phase of development of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz offshore gas condensate field, which will allow increasing the transit of Azerbaijani gas to Europe through Georgia.
Oettinger said that as a result of transit of Azerbaijani gas, Georgia will get five percent of the transported volume, which will improve the country's gas supply.
Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze and the country's Energy Minister Kakha Kaladze also attended the meeting.
"The meeting was very interesting. We discussed the cooperation agenda with the EU, as well as partnership priorities in energy issues. We have once again confirmed our readiness to timely fulfill the tasks set at the Vilnius Summit and, primarily our goal is to sign the association agreement as quickly as possible," Panjikidze said at a joint press conference with Oettinger.
She said that energy is one of the priority areas in relations between Georgia and the EU.
"Mr. Oettinger's visit is the official opening of talks on Georgia's accession to Europe's energy association," Panjikidze said.
She added that Georgia welcomes this fact, as it is another important step in the country's integration.
"Joining the energy association, Georgia will become a part of the common European area. We are ready to intensify our energy diplomacy in this direction," Panjikidze said.
The reserves of the Shah Deniz field are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.
The contract for development of the Shah Deniz offshore field was signed on June 4, 1996.
The agreement's participants include such companies as the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) with a 16.7 percent share, BP (28.8 percent), Norway's Statoil (15.5 percent), Iran's NICO (10 percent), the French Total (10 percent), Russia's Lukoil (10 percent) and Turkish TPAO (nine percent).
The contract was signed following the adoption on the final investment decision on Shah Deniz -2 on December 17, 2013, in Baku. The final investment decision envisages ensuring production of an additional 16 billion cubic meters of gas per year.
If initially the peak production volume under the first phase of development of the field was planned at the level of nine billion cubic meters, currently work is underway to increase this figure to 10.4 billion cubic meters.
The cost of the second stage of the Shah Deniz development is estimated at $25 billion.