Shah-Deniz-2 path to Europe Azerbaijan is building

The Shah-Deniz-2 project is the “first bird from the depth of the Caspian Sea,” Ilham Shaban, head of Oil Studies Centre Caspian Barrel, told correspondent of Herald of Caucasus. 

He said Shah-Deniz-2 is the path to Europe laid by Azerbaijan, which opens the way to the future projects.

“I think we will be able to see that future by the mid 2020, when development of the deeper fields starts. This will be a new epoch, new technologies and absolutely new projects, possibly Shsh-Deniz-3. Before the Shah-Deniz-2 none of the world companies even dared to develop such fields. The first step was made and we will see what is going to happen next,” he said. 

Shaban reminded that depth of gas occurrence on the Shah-Deniz-2 is twice higher, than average occurrence of oil on the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG), which reaches 6.9 km, and the sea depth totals about 550 meters (between 140 and 240 meters on ACG) that makes the project technologically difficult and unique. Azerbaijan does not count on the super profits from the Shah-Deniz-2, because it is the first bird. 

On the one hand, the planned volume of gas production and export confirms this fact. “We plan to export 10 billion cub.m. of gas a year to Europe, of which 6 billion cub.m. a year to Turkey. We do not count on more from the Shah-Deniz-2 project,” the expert said. 

On the other hand, “in order to transport Azerbaijani gas to the European border by 2019, which means its extraction and construction of infrastructure, we will have to invest about $30 billion.” Meanwhile, “this does not mean that the first bird will be unprofitable.”

‘The project will bring profit in any case, it is commercially profitable. If it would have been unprofitable, nobody would have worked on the project since 2010 and spent $3 billion,” the expert concluded.—0—