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Azerbaijan may raise its gas output to 20 bln cubic metres by 2015 - SOCAR president

In his words, now the state oil company is completing commercial talks with potential buyers of Azerbaijan’s gas in Europe

BAKU, June 5 (Itar-Tass) - Azerbaijan has rather real chances in order to raise its annual gas production to 20 billion cubic metres by 2015, President of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) Rovnag Abdullayev said, addressing the 20th International Conference entitled, the Caspian Oil and Gas, here on Wednesday.

“This achievement is able to raise Azerbaijan’s role in the matter of the European energy security,” the SOCAR head said.

In his words, now the state oil company is completing commercial talks with potential buyers of Azerbaijan’s gas in Europe.

“Now, we analyse all variants and assess all gas-price and transit-tariff-related proposals,” Abdullayev said, adding that the final decision regarding the route for Azerbaijan’s gas export to Europe is expected to be made by the end of June.

He also pointed to the intensive talks with the Turkish government about the fulfilment of the project aimed at the construction of the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP project) with the throughput capacity of 16 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year.

The SOCAR president also reaffirmed a certain progress in the talks with the UK’s BP company, as well as with France’s Total and Norway’s Statoil pertaining their participation in the TANAP project.

“In all, the gas pipeline is the only acceptable alternative route for the supply of natural gas to Europe,” Abdullayev said, adding that the TANAP construction would start in 2014, while gas supplies to Europe are expected to begin in 2019.

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