Within a year Nabucco west to compete with tap for gas transportation from shah-deniz field

The Shah Deniz consortium has now concluded its evaluation of potential gas export routes towards South East and Central Europe. The Nabucco West project with a route running from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Baumgarten has been selected as the single pipeline option for the potential export of Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas to Central Europe, reads the joint statement of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and BP (Shah-Deniz   project operator).

    Therefore, development of the South East Europe Pipeline (SEEP) project, which had been assembled by Shah Deniz partners in collaboration with Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, will cease. 

    This decision was made on the basis of the publicly communicated selection criteria announced in 2011. In particular, the greater maturity of Nabucco West gave the consortium confidence that this project could be developed and delivered on the same timeline as Stage 2. The consortium will now cooperate with the Nabucco West project to optimise its scope, its technical studies and its commercial offer.

    Based on the same criteria, in February this year the consortium selected the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) as the potential route for export of Stage 2 gas to Italy. Since that decision the Shah Deniz consortium has closely worked with TAP, recently concluding a Co-operation Agreement with this project. 

    The Shah Deniz consortium will continue to work with the owners of the two selected pipeline options. Shah Deniz will make a final decision between these projects, and will conclude related gas sales agreements ahead of the Shah Deniz Final Investment Decision planned for mid 2013.

    Rashid Javanshir, President of the BP Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey Region, said: "We are delighted to announce the selection of the Nabucco West option, alongside our earlier selection of TAP. This represents another important milestone in the development of Shah Deniz Stage 2 and the transportation of gas resources from the Caspian to Europe. We are grateful to the governments and companies who have supported the development of both the Nabucco West and SEEP pipeline projects." 

    Rovnag Abdullayev, President of SOCAR, said: "This decision constitutes a significant step towards implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor Strategy which would serve the strategic interest for sustained energy security of European countries as well as Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.

    This indicates the growing role of Azerbaijan as an enabler to provide diversified energy resources to European market," Abdullayev said.

    * The partners of Shah-Deniz are BP with 25.5%, Statoil with 25.5%, SOCAR with 10%, NICO - 10%, Total - 10%, LUKoil - 10% and TPAO with 9%.

    ** The production of the first gas within the Stage-1 project started in November 2006 and its export started in quarter 1, 2007. At present about 7 billion cub.m. of gas a year is produced within the Stage-1 project. The peak production is forecasted to be about 9 billion cub.m. The production within the Stage-2 project is scheduled for quarter 4, 2017. The peak gas production is forecasted at 16 billion cub.m. by 2020, of which 6 billion cub.m. will be delivered to Turkey and 10 billion cub.m. to Europe.-0-