Azerbaijani gas exports to Europe may begin earlier than 2017 - SOCAR
BAKU. Nov 16 (Interfax) - The export of Azerbaijani gas to Europe may begin not in 2017 as planned, but earlier, advisor to the president of State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) Murad Heydarov said during the conference European Prospects for Caspian Energy in Baku on Wednesday.
"At issue is the export of SOCAR gas. Potential consumers of this gas could be countries in Southeastern Europe, including Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Greece, among others. For this there has to be available gas-transport infrastructure to European borders," Heydarov said.
Speaking with the press, Heydarov said that basic gas-supply negotiations are in the early stages with Bulgaria. "We have a memorandum from 2009 on delivering up to one billion cubic meters of gas to Bulgaria per year. We are discussing this with Bulgaria," he said.
From a commercial standpoint, Heydarov said, supplying gas to Bulgaria is attractive. He did not provide any specific timeframe for when delivery would begin, saying it depends on the technical capacity of the gas-transport system.
"The question is how much use will be able to make of the main Southern Caucasus pipeline [from Baku to the Georgian-Turkish border] and the possibilities of the gas-transport infrastructure of the company Botas to Turkey's western borders. We need to know how technically possible it is to send SOCAR gas via the Southern Caucasus pipe and Turkey's network to the European consumer. The main Southern Caucasus pipeline right now has a defined regime, it is calculated only on gas volume from the Shah Deniz deposit," Heydarov said.
Azerbaijan now supplies gas to Turkey, Georgia, Russia and Iran. Some of the gas is resold to Greece.
"We already find ourselves in the final stage of deciding to which European markets we will be delivering gas and by which routes. Before the end of 2011, we will select one of the routes [either Nabucco, Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), or Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy (ITGI)]," Heydarov said.
Gas production under Stage-2 of Shah Deniz development has been planned for 2017, and annual output will be 16 billion cubic meters (bcm). "The timing for the start of Stage-2 gas exports remains unchanged - 2017-2018. In the initial phase of Stage-2, the plan is to extract 4 billion cubic meters a year," he said.
By 2025, overall gas production in Azerbaijan will reach 50 bcm, Heydarov said. "That, naturally, will reflect also the growth of gas exports, which will make Azerbaijan one of the biggest players on the European gas market," he said. The end goal is supplying gas not only from Shah Deniz, including Stage-2, but also from other gas fields, he said.