Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 25

Trend:

Europe intends to find a technical and legal basis for the Turkmen gas supply via Azerbaijan, the European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič said, Financial Times reported.

“Russia’s position is a problem in the gas supply from Turkmenistan,” he said. “It insists that the gas can be supplied from the Caspian coastal region only with the consent of the neighboring countries. In particular, it concerns the prospects of laying the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline.”

Šefčovič said that the EU will make every political effort to support the Trans Adriatic Gas Pipeline to construct it by late 2019.

“Brussels has already outlined the pipeline as a "project of common interest",” he said. “This allows bypassing the restrictions on competition in the EU.”

“It is very important for investors to have political confidence that this project will be the EU main priority,” he said. “Brussels is ready to offer any political support. This will also be done within the EU. For example, this refers to the TAP site in Italy, where the local authorities have the environmental claims concerning this gas pipeline.”

Šefčovič said that the EU drew conclusions from the Nabucco project, which failed due to a lack of Europe’s political support.

The Southern Gas Corridor will allow Europe to diversify its hydrocarbon supply sources and strengthen energy security and also will allow Azerbaijan to obtain a new market in Europe. Azerbaijani gas is designed to open the Southern Gas Corridor.

On December 17, 2013, a final investment decision was made on the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz offshore gas and condensate fields development. The gas produced at this field will first go to the European market (10 billion cubic meters). Around six billion cubic meters will be annually supplied to Turkey.

The contract for development of the Shah Deniz offshore field was signed on June 4, 1996. The field’s proven reserve is 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas and 240 million metric tons of condensate.

As part of the second stage of the field development, gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus gas pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic (TAP) gas pipelines.