Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

It is possible to transport additional volumes of gas from the fields in the third countries as part of major gas transportation projects.

These remarks were made by Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev in reply to a question on the possibility of transportation of Turkmen gas to Europe.

"Particularly, we talk about transportation of gas through the South Caucasus and Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) and others," he told journalists.

Aliyev added if Turkmenistan intends to export its gas to Europe, Azerbaijan is ready to provide it with all necessary infrastructure in this regard.

"Negotiations have been held repeatedly on Turkmen gas supplies to Europe but no concrete results have been achieved so far," the minister said.

Currently, the Turkmen side carries out several gas transportation projects to diversify its gas transportation routes. The country is interested in the supply of gas to the West as well.

"The issue of gas transportation through the Caspian Sea remains open to discussion," the minister said.

The Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline with a length of around 300 kilometers will be laid from the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, where it will be linked to the Southern Gas Corridor. The pipeline's capacity is 30-40 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

Talks on the construction of the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline between Turkmenistan, the EU, and other countries have been held since late 1990s. The negotiation process intensified after the EU issued a mandate to start negotiations on the preparation of an agreement between the EU, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan on the Trans-Caspian project in September 2011.

Works on TANAP project implemented promptly and efficiently

Touching on the TANAP project, Aliyev said all the issues on the implementation of this project are being resolved promptly and efficiently both by Azerbaijan and Turkey.

The minister noted Azerbaijan will implement such an ambitious project for the first time.

"I say this because the operator of the project is the Azerbaijani side which undertakes a significant part of the financing and holds most of the equity," Aliyev said.

The minister also noted all the works are being carried out intensively and in close cooperation with the Azerbaijani and Turkish sides. Aliyev expressed confidence that the project will be implemented as scheduled.

TANAP, developed by Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR in collaboration with Turkish Botas and the energy company TPAO, will deliver Shah Deniz gas to the Turkish-Greek border from eastern Turkey.

The initial capacity of the pipeline will be 16 billion cubic meters of gas a year. TANAP will link up with Trans-Adriatic (TAP) pipeline on the Turkish-Greek border.

TANAP shareholders plan to lay the pipeline's foundation in the second quarter of 2014, and commission it in 2018. The costs of the TANAP project are estimated at $10 billion to $11 billion.

Absheron field to produce gas no earlier than 2018

Aliyev went on to note that the Absheron gas condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea will start producing gas after 2018.

Recently, France's Total Company presented a program to Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR for the Absheron field's development.

"The works carried out under this project aim to produce around five billion cubic meters of gas per year," the minister added.

"This is also a complex project, since the field is located in deep water. However, I believe that our experience will allow us to successfully put the field into operation," Aliyev stressed.

The discovery of the Absheron large natural gas field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian was announced in September 2011 following the drilling of an exploration well.

The field's potential reserves amount to 350 billion cubic meters of gas and 45 million tons of condensate.

The participants of the Absheron project include SOCAR -with a share of 40 percent- and French companies Total -with 40 percent- and Gaz De France Suez -with 20 percent.

The contract regarding the field was signed on February 27, 2009, between SOCAR and Total. Later, Total sold 20 percent equity participation to Gaz De France Suez.