Baku. 20 September. REPORT.AZ/ About 85 bln cum of gas and 21.2 mln tons of condensate have been extracted from "Shah Deniz" gas-condensate field located in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea so far.
Report informs, Rovnag Abdullayev, President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) has stated in article published by the Azərbaycan newspaper.
"Over recent years, gas production in Azerbaijan has exceeded 29 billion cubic meters annually. Known all over the world since ancient times as an oil country, Azerbaijan has been recognized as a source of alternative natural gas in the world market in a short time as a result of successful development of "Shah Deniz" field.
In the near future, we will start the second stage of development of "Shah Deniz" field, which total reserves estimated at 1.2 trillion cum of gas, over 240 mln tons of condensate. Within "Shah Deniz-2",additional 16 bln cum of gas will be added to the current annual production, 6 bln cum of this volume will be supplied to Turkey per year, 10 bln cum to Europe - Greece, Bulgaria and Italy. The first gas on this project is expected to be delivered to Turkey by late 2018", SOCAR President said.
Notably, Shah Deniz field is located on the Caspian Sea shelf, 70 km south-east from Baku coast with depth of water changing between 50-500 meters. The field’s estimated natural gas deposits are about 1.2 trillion cum. It is one of largest gas and gas-condensate deposits in the world.
The agreement on 'Shah Deniz' perspective area exploration, development and production sharing was signed June 4, 1996. 'Shah Deniz' production sharing agreement (PSA) was ratified on October 17, 1996. Participants to the agreement are: BP (operator - 28.8%), AzSD (10%), SGC Upstream (6.7%), Petronas (15,5%), LUKoil (10%), NICO (10%) and TPAO (19%).