President Ilham Aliyev: Shah Deniz-2 to provide long term successful economic development of Azerbaijan - UPDATE

"Today is a historic day in the history of modern Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani President Ilham said at the signing ceremony of the final investment decision on the project of the second phase of the Shah Deniz gas condensate field development in Baku today.

The final investment decision on the Shah Deniz 2 energy project will provide long term successful economic development of our country," President Aliyev said.

The president stressed that the Shah Deniz-2 is one of the biggest energy projects in the world.

"It is a project of energy security, energy diversification, project of broad international cooperation between countries and companies involved in this historic project," President Aliyev said.

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10:27
The signing ceremony of the final investment decision on Shah Deniz-2 project has started in Baku today.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, his spouse Mehriban Aliyeva, the heads of several countries and governments attend the event.

Shah Deniz-2 project authorization means the transition of the project from the concept into an immediate implementation stage.

The contract to develop the offshore Shah Deniz field was signed on June 4, 1996.

Participants to the agreement are: BP (operator) - 25.5 percent, Statoil - 25.5 percent, NICO - 10 percent, Total - 10 percent, Lukoil - 10 percent, TPAO - 9 percent and SOCAR - 10 percent.

Shah Deniz reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.

The cost of the second phase of development of Shah Deniz gas condensate field is estimated at $25 billion.

Within the second phase of development it is planned to produce some 16 billion cubic meters of gas (within the first phase - 9 billion), six billion of which will be transported to Turkey and ten billion to Europe.

The consortium of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field development announced its choice of the TAP project in late June, as a gas transportation route to the European markets.

The initial capacity of the TAP pipeline will be 10 billion cubic meters per year with the possibility of expanding to 20 billion cubic meters per year.

Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) gas pipeline will be constructed for transportation of gas through Turkey's territory.


/Trend/