Energy minister: Azerbaijan may increase gas production by half by 2020

By 2020, gas production in Azerbaijan may increase twice from 27 billion cubic meters, which were produced in 2010, Industry and Energy Minister Natig Abbasov said on Tuesday at a meeting on the discussion of the memorandum signed between the EU and Azerbaijan in the energy sphere.

According to him, this gas will allow filling the projects of the “Southern Energy Corridor”. At present, Azerbaijan’s proven gas reserves hit 2.2 trillion cubic meters. Last year Azerbaijan opened a field, reserves of which are estimated at least 200 billion cubic meters.

Azerbaijan also has such promising structures as “Absheron”, “Nakhchivan”, “Babak”, which will significantly increase gas reserves in Azerbaijan.

The Southern Energy Corridor is a priority EU energy project diversifying energy supply routes and sources and increasing EU energy security. The Southern Corridor includes the Nabucco gas pipeline, Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), White Stream, and ITGI (Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline).

Azerbaijani gas from the Shah Deniz field with reserves of 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas is regarded as one of the main sources for the first phase of these projects, It is also expected to receive gas from Turkmenistan and Iraq as the main raw material in the future.


/Trend/