After the last year clash of interests, Azerbaijan and Turkey become
allies once more
Several gas agreements have been signed after more than two-year talks
on this issue. Turkey beat Azerbaijan down in price, but in general
the deals were quite beneficial for Baku.
Relations between Baku and Ankara dramatically worsened last year
after Turkey signed a "road map and reestablished diplomatic
relations" with Armenia, and gas issues became another irritant. No
wonder that after Turkish-Armenian rapprochement had been put on hold,
Baku eased its gas policy regarding Ankara and made a deal.
In fact the gas agreement has a historic significance. To begin the
second phase of the "Shakh-Deniz" oil-field development, Azerbaijan
needed well-defined contracts with consumers, transit-states and
investors. Turkey for its part didn't want to stay on the sidelines
of the gas drama, playing the role of a transit state. Nevertheless
Azerbaijan, which was looking to enter European energy markets, could
not accept the Turkish position on this issue. Baku could participate
in three gas projects - Nabucco, ITGI (Turkey-Greece-Italy) and TAP
(Trans-Adriatic pipeline) - each of them provides Azerbaijan with an
opportunity to get to the European energy markets.
But as a first step Azerbaijan has to start second phase of the
"Shakh-Deniz" oil-fields development, which will cost about $20
billion. According to President Ilham Aliyev, gas production is
limited by a lack of consumers - as soon as the situation changes the
production level can be easily increased.
The agreement signed with Turkey for the next 15 years will provide
Azerbaijan with an opportunity to produce and export 16 billion of
cubic meters of gas starting from 2015. According to the agreement
Turkey will buy 6 billion of cubic meters of gas yearly and provide
transit to Europe through its territories.
Evgenii Krishtalev. Exclusively for VK.
