Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

The investments in projects designed to supply Azerbaijani gas to Europe will reach $45-$48 billion.

President of the Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev made the remark at event dedicated to the oil and gas industry workers on December 8.

Particularly, he said, the investments will cover the development of the second stage of the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz offshore gas condensate field, expansion of the South Caucasus gas pipeline, construction of Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic (TAP) gas pipeline.

Azerbaijan with total gas reserves in the volume of about three trillion cubic meters will be able to begin supplying fuel to Europe via the planned Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, a part of the Southern Gas Corridor.

The 3,500-kilometer South Gas Corridor that would finally end Europe’s dependence on a single pipeline started with the go-ahead to the South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion, which will connect the Sangachal terminal with eastern Turkey through Georgia. It will link up with the SOCAR-led TANAP to be connected with a third pipeline TAP on the Turkish-Greek border.

TANAP construction is due to be completed in 2018 and TAP in 2020 with first gas deliveries to Europe planned in the same year. The cost of the work on all four elements of the Southern Gas Corridor was estimated at almost $50 billion, according to the preliminary data.

Abdullayev further said SOCAR will continue its activity in Turkey, namely the projects on construction of a refinery, container port, and construction of a new power plant will begin in late 2014- early 2015.

The total cost of the project on the construction of SOCAR's refinery in Turkey exceeds $5 billion. Azerbaijan's state oil fund allocated $475 million to finance this project. Around $3.29 billion will be drawn from 23 financial institutions.

A container port is planned to be completed by late 2014 - early 2015. The project will cost $ 400 million.

SOCAR investments in Turkey will reach $ 20 billion in total. So far, Azerbaijan has invested $5billion in the Turkish economy.

Abdullayev also added that SOCAR intends to continue to work within the country. The company will continue to work to increase the oil and gas production, and work on reconstruction of Baku Oil Refinery named after Heydar Aliyev and construction of a new Oil and Gas Processing and Petrochemical Complex (OGPC) worth a total of $8 billion.


SOCAR is involved in exploring oil and gas fields, producing, processing, and transporting oil, gas, and gas condensate, marketing petroleum and petrochemical products in the domestic and international markets, and supplying natural gas to industry and the public in Azerbaijan. Three production divisions, two oil refineries and one gas refinery, an oil tanker fleet, a deep water platform fabrication yard, two trusts, one institution, and 22 subdivisions are operating as corporate entities under SOCAR.

The company annually invests billions of dollars in transport infrastructure and is involved in key projects designed to increase Europe's energy security.

It owns gas stations in Azerbaijan, Switzerland, Georgia and Ukraine. It has representative offices in Georgia, Turkey, Romania, Austria, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Britain, Iran, Germany and Ukraine and trading companies in Switzerland, Singapore, Vietnam, Nigeria, and other countries.

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