Azerbaijan energy minister received GDF SUEZ vice president

Gas resources will allow Azerbaijan becoming an important gas supplier at the international markets in the coming 10 years, Azerbaijani Minister of Energy and Industry Natig Aliyev said yesterday during the meeting with Jean Marie Dauger, Vice President of French GDF SUEZ company.

Aliyev added that the prove gas resources of Azerbaijan total 2.2 trillion cub.m. "This will give Azerbaijan a possibility to become an important gas supplier to the international markets in the coming decades," Minister said.

He also said that Azerbaijan has invested a lot into infrastructure for transportation of natural gas.

Aliyev added that Azerbaijan is a reliable partner for Europe. "Energy resources must not be used for competitions and collisions, but for development of regional and international cooperation. The interests of suppliers, transit countries and consumers should coincide and bring mutual profit. This is the energy philosophy of our country and president," Minister said.

Minister also spoke about successful activities of French companies during the exploration works on the deep-water section of Absheron and discovery of a big gas condensate field. Aliyev said that "discovery of the field will strengthen energy safety of Europe."

GDF SUEZ company is represented in Azerbaijan only in the exploration project Absheron, where it owns 20% share. The company joined the project in June 2010. In September 2011 discovery of the field was announced. On July 2, 2012 the project operator - Total company - announced preliminary information about resources of the field. The confirmed extractible resources in the northern part of Absheron field total between 150 and 300 billion cub.m. The volume of the condensate resources is unknown, though geologists of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) estimate them at 80 million tons. The first exploration well's drilling progress totaled 6874 meters.-0--