Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is ready to transport additional gas volumes when they will be available in the future, the project’s representative told Trend Agency.

The source was commenting on the perspectives to transport gas from other sources, in particular, from Turkmenistan.

“In the future, TAP can increase its capacity to around 20 billion cubic meters per annum when more gas volumes become available to transport,” TAP’s representative said.

Earlier TAP’s representative said Iran is not considered as the supply source for the project as long as the issues related to Iranian nuclear program are not settled.

“TAP will not transport any sanctioned gas under the current political circumstances,” the source said.

The Shah Deniz consortium announced the selection of TAP as the main route for transporting its gas to Europe in late June. The initial capacity of TAP will amount to 10 billion cubic meters per annum with the possibility of expanding to 20 billion cubic meters per annum. The TAP's construction project is planned to start in 2015.

The gas which will be produced at the second stage of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field development will be the main source of the Southern Gas Corridor, which envisages the transportation of the Caspian gas to European markets.

The Shah Deniz field, one of the world's largest gas-condensate fields, was discovered in 1999. Its reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. Overall, the field has proven to be a secure and reliable supplier of gas to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and Europe.

Azerbaijan agreed to sell over 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year from the second phase of its Shah Deniz development to nine companies in the European Union in September 2013.