BAKU, October 28 (Itar-Tass) —— Azerbaijan and Turkey will build a new pipeline for transporting growing volumes of Azerbaijani gas to European markets, president of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOC) Rovnag Abdullayev said in an interview with the Baku TV channel ANS .
“By 2025, up to 50 billion cubic metres of gas will be produced in Azerbaijan. To supply a considerable part of this volume to world markets, an agreement was reached with Turkey to consider a project of building a new gas pipeline,” Abdullayev said. According to him, the project will be implemented by Azerbaijan and Turkey. At the same time, it is not ruled out that foreign companies may be attracted to it. “We intend to settle all questions connected with the implementation of the project during 2012, and, without losing time, begin construction works to finish the new pipeline by 2017, or by the beginning of the second stage of development of the gas project Shakh Deniz in the Caspian shelf,” the SOC head said.
Gas, which will be produced within the framework of the second stage the project Shakh Deniz, is also offered to be exported through the Nabuko, Turkey-Greece-Italy and Trans-Adriatic pipelines, which are part of the Southern Gas Corridor. All the three consortiums have already presented their proposals to Azerbaijan which will choose before the end of the year the most preferable for itself route of supplying gas produced in the country to Europe.
As Rovnag Adbdullayev said, a package of gas agreements signed by Azerbaijan and Turkey this week “ensures the transportation of Azerbaijani gas to the Turkish-Greek and Turkish-Bulgarian borders.” “Actually, all conditions have been created for implementing the Southern Gas Corridor connecting the Caspian region with Europe,” he said.
Azerbaijan’s confirmed gas reserves are estimated at 2.6 billion cubic metres.