October deadline for proposals on Azerbaijani gas export
Baku, August 11 (AZERTAC). The State oil company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) has asked for final proposals from the three main pipeline projects bidding to export Azerbaijani gas to Europe.
SOCAR made the request in its capacity as leader of the group negotiating the export of gas produced as part of Stage 2 of the development of the giant Shah Deniz deposit, SOCAR said in a press release.
"SOCAR sent the request for information to the groups dealing with the ITGI Poseidon (Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy), Trans Adriatic Pipeline and Nabucco. The request says that information on all three projects should be submitted to the Shah Deniz consortium for assessment so that they can select the export infrastructure," the report says.
The deadline for the receipt of information by SOCAR is 1 October this year.
The information should include details about proposed tariffs and terms and full details of each pipeline project.
Under Stage 2, or full-field development, of Shah Deniz, 16bn cubic metres of gas per year will be produced in addition to the 9bn cu.m already being produced under Stage 1. The first gas should come on stream as part of Stage 2 in 2017.
Of the new gas production, 10bn cu.m are earmarked for export to Europe. The gas is to be exported via what is known as the Southern Corridor, a route to Europe via Turkey and Greece, bypassing Russia.
The EU is keen to see the Southern Corridor in operation in order to diversify its sources of gas supply away from over-reliance on Russia.
Stage 2 of Shah Deniz development envisages the construction of two new platforms, the drilling of six underwater wells, through two semi-submersible drilling rigs, and the laying of a 500-metre underwater pipeline at a depth of 550 metres. The capacity of the South Caucasus Pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum) will be raised to 16bn cu.m.
The contract for the development of Shah Deniz was signed in Baku on 4 June 1996 and ratified by the Milli Majlis (parliament) the same year. The companies involved in the Shah Deniz production sharing agreement are operator BP (25.5%), Statoil (25.5%), SOCAR (10%), LUKOIL (10%), NICO (10%), Total (10%) and TPAO (9%).
Peak production from Shah Deniz under Stage 1 of development is 9bn cu.m of gas per year. Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey have agreed on the sale of this gas which is exported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline.
Other news in this section
