Southern Gas Corridor Launched

Baku / 05.25.18 / Turan: On Tuesday morning, the South Gas Corridor (SGC) launching ceremony was held, providing for the creation of infrastructure for the supply of Azerbaijani gas to Europe. The launch of SGC at the Sangachal terminal was carried out by President Ilham Aliyev.

The SGC project envisages the transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe via Turkey through the Stage-2 project of the Shah Deniz field. The cost of the project is estimated at over $ 40 billion.

The main components of the project are Stage-2 of the Shah Deniz project, expansion of the South Caucasus pipeline Baku - Georgia - Border with Turkey, and further along the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) from the eastern to the western border of Turkey.

TANAP has already been built and the ceremony of its launch with participation of the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey will be held on June 12.

Further gas will go from Europe via the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline (TAP), connecting Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, to the south of Italy.

Deliveries of Azerbaijani gas to Europe are expected to start in 2020 in the amount of 10 billion cubic meters (bcm). In addition, 6 bcm of Azerbaijani gas will be supplied to the western regions of Turkey.

The Southern Gas Corridor provides for the supply of gas from the Caspian region to Europe, bypassing the Russian Federation.

Aliyev said this project takes into account the balance of interests; the interests of producers, transit countries and consumers are fully ensured.

"We ensure the diversification of energy sources. In the full sense of the word, the Southern Gas Corridor is a new energy artery," Aliyev said.

"We are implementing these giant projects jointly with our partners and we are re-creating the energy map for Europe," he added.

Shareholders of the Shah Deniz project are BP (operator, 28.8%), SOCAR (16.7%), Petronas (15.5%), LUKOIL (10%), NICO (10%) and TPAO (19 %). -06B--