SOCAR hints for more gas output: ‘Southern Gas Corridor’ plans not limited to Shah-Deniz 2

/By AzerNews/

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Azerbaijan's plans over the Southern Gas Corridor, designed to bring the Caspian gas to Europe, is not limited to the Shah-Deniz 2 project.

“The natural gas to be produced within the Shah-Deniz Stage 2 development is important, but is only first link in the chain of Southern Gas Corridor prospects,” said Rovnag Abdullayev, the president of Azerbaijan's energy giant SOCAR, stressing that Azerbaijan's gas export potential will reach 40 billion cubic meters by 2025.

“This is real figure and bulk of this gas can be delivered to Europe,” Abdullayev told local press on May 5.

Azerbaijan's gas reserves are more than three trillion cubic meters which helps the development of the country's export potential, he stressed.

While the focus is on the Shah-Deniz field with estimated gas reserves at 1.2 trillion cubic meters, Azerbaijan possess additional significant gas fields such as Absheron, Umid, Babek and Nakhchivan, of which Absheron field is projected to be commenced in 2021.

Some 16 billion cubic meters of gas will be produced in the Shah Deniz Stage 2 development and exported to the energy markets. This figure will be increased by one billion cubic meters per year.

Abdullayev further said that at the first stage, the volume of gas transported through the Trans Anatolian Pipeline will be 16 billion cubic meters.

"In the future, the possibility of increasing the gas supply through TANAP to 30 billion cubic meters will be considered," Abdullayev said, noting that TANAP is able to meet Europe's gas needs.

TANAP is a strategic gas supply project for Turkey and Azerbaijan that will bring gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field to Turkish and EU consumers.

The 1,850 kilometer Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) pipeline, which is due to be completed in 2018, will link the existing South Caucasus Pipeline which connects Turkey to the Azerbaijani gas fields in the Caspian Sea, through Georgia.

The cost of the work on all four elements of the Southern Gas Corridor was estimated at almost $45-48 billion, according to the preliminary data.