Gas production from third stage of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz project to start within four years - Aliyev

BAKU. May 4 (Interfax) - Gas production from the third stage of the Shah Deniz field will begin within four years, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.

"We expect more gas from Shah Deniz, we expect maybe in four years' time, maybe less from the new phase of Shah Deniz additional gas," Aliev said at an international conference on "Shaping the Geopolitics of the Greater Eurasia: from Past to Present to Future" in Shusha

A transcript of the conference was posted on the president's website.

Gas production from the Absheron field in the Caspian Sea will begin this year. "We also expect, as we have for several years, but I hope this year we will get first gas from Absheron, which at the first phase of will produce 1.5 bcm [per year]. And then we will have to decide what will be the second phase and what will be the market, whether it will be the domestic market or international market," he said.

In addition, there are plans to produce deep gas at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block and gas from the Karabakh oil field.

"Of course, so-called deep gas from ACG has great potential. And BP and SOCAR are already actively working on that. It's a huge gas condensate field. When I said 300 billion cubic meters of gas [reserves], this is the minimum. Of course, there's big potential in Umid and Babek, which partly is developed by SOCAR itself, but we're ready to work with international companies also. And Karabakh oil field, which also has potential," Aliyev said.

Shah Deniz Stage 3 calls for the production of gas from deep-lying formations.

The contract for the development of the Shah Deniz field was signed in Baku in 1996. Equity participation in the contract is currently as follows: BP , operator, with 29.99%; Lukoil - 19.99%; TPAO - 19%; State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic - 14.35%; NICO - 10% and Cenub Qaz Dehlizi - 6.67%.

Gas production from the Shah Deniz field began in December 2006. Gas is currently produced at the Shah Deniz field at the Alpha platform as part of Stage 1 of development and at the Bravo platform as part of Stage 2.

Production at the field in 2022 grew 11.5% to 25.2 bcm of gas and 4.8% to 4.4 million tonnes of condensate.