Azerbaijan will contribute to diversifying energy supplies to Europe,
spokesman of Edison (Italy), Elio Rujeri, told the Caspian Oil and
Gas-2011 Conference in Baku today, 1news.az reports.
He said that the ITGI project (Turkey-Greece-Italy interconnector)
will increase gas supplies to Europe. It may become a starting project
of the Southern Gas Corridor. The Shah-Deniz consortium and the
Azerbaijani government are expected to make decisions on the best gas
export project of the second stage of development of the Shah-Deniz
field. A decision needs to be made by the end of 2011.
A transit deal between Azerbaijan and Turkey may boost realization of
the Shah-Deniz-2 project.
The Italian official underlined that the ITGI project will use gas of
Turkmenistan and Iraq. It will not be a threat to Nabucco.
The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) announced
the quantity of investments in the second stage of development of
Shah-Deniz in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.
SOCAR Vice-President Vitaly Beglyarbekov said that Shah-Deniz-2 will
need over $40 billion for construction of new pipelines and
modernization of existing ones between Azerbaijan and Georgia.
The vice-president noted that Azerbaijan expects an extraction rate of
50-55 billion cubic meters of gas in 2020-2025.
