Today.Az » Business » 'Natural gas production in Azerbaijan would be 55 bcm by 2025 '
10 May 2012 [09:27] - Today.Az
Production of natural gas from Azerbaijan would be around 50-55 billion cubic meters according to forecast of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), President of SOCAR Rovnag Abdullayev said in an interview with The Business Year journal.
He said now Azerbaijan is considering what the design of the pipelines should be in all the potential routes, keeping in mind not only current volumes of gas, but also all those volumes that would come from other fields in the country after 2020 or 2025.
Abdullayev said it's not economically feasible to build pipelines for every one of the fields. Instead, the country needs to build a pipeline that can service all these fields and one that can be upgraded as the necessity arises.
"However, as a gas supplier, our aim isn't just to deliver the gas, but to do it at the best price," he said.
Abdullayev underlined that European consumers should know that we have to make multi- billion dollar investments to be able to deliver our gas to Europe.
The preliminary assessment of costs for Shah Deniz Phase II is about $25 billion to $26 billion. Therefore, the gas we sell has to recover those costs and deliver a reasonable profit as well, Abdullayev said.
Abdullayev said SOCAR continues commercial engagement with potential buyers, to compile the necessary information about the selected projects, and to further develop cooperation with the EC to implement the Southern Corridor Strategy.
"Therefore, 2012 is the year for decisions, and in terms of starting the full-scale implementation of the Shah Deniz Phase II project, there will also be financial decisions, after which there is no point of return," he said.
Abdullayev underlined that SOCAR has been positively contributing to Southern Gas Corridor project by carrying out negotiations with potential buyers and the owners of pipeline infrastructure in Europe.
He mentioned that SOCAR plans on developing its presence in surrounding countries such as Georgia and Turkey.
"Today Azerbaijan represents 50% of that market, with its own distribution network for oil and oil-based products. Azerbaijan also oversees the gas distribution network in Georgia as well, because up to 90 percent of gas imports to that country come from Azerbaijan," he underlined.
Also, according to Abdullayev, Azerbaijan is going to invest about $6 billion in a new refinery, called "Star" with production capacity of 10 million tons a year in Turkey.
"We are going to invest in that refinery, because we want to expand our activities in the petrochemical sector in Turkey, which has huge potential," he added.
Besides that, SOCAR started investing in the distribution of oil products in Ukraine and Romania, in addition the company has projects in Switzerland and UAE, Abdullayev said.
With regard to Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline project (TANAP), Abdullayev said now the company is talking about a capacity of 16 billion cubic meters (bcm), and Azerbaijan has to either do this through Turkey's gas distribution company, BOTAS, and its expansive national grid, or build a new, dedicated pipeline.
"Both are considered as key elements of the Southern Gas Corridor," he said.
"We agreed with the authorities in Turkey to check the feasibility of both projects and to make a final solution by mid-2012," Abdullayev added.
/Trend/
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