Azerbaijan to fulfil European energy security

Development of Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field to provide Europe with gas may require $40-45 billion of investments, BP Azerbaijan President Rashid Javanshir said on Wednesday. $20-25 billion will be spent on the second stage of development, $15 billion on transporting gas to Europe.

26 underwater boreholes need to be built. The South Caucasus Pipeline needs to be expanded and two compression stations constructed and a 16-inch pipeline.

Georgian gas consumption will reach 50 billion cubic meters annually in 2030. 80% of European gas will be imported.

Managing Director of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH Reinhard Mitchek supports the NabuccoWest project. It will transport gas from the Caspian Region and Middle East to Europe.

OMV (Austria), MOL (Hungary), Bulgargaz (Bulgaria), Transgaz (Romania), Botas (Turkey) and RWE (Germany) are the shareholders in the project. Commercial deals will be considered with Nabucco Gas Pipeline International.

Bayerngas is expected to join the project in the near future.

Nabucco Gas Pipeline International presented proposals for construction of a 3900 km pipeline from the Georgian-Turkish and Iraqi-Turkish border to Austria’s Baumgarten in October 2011.

Nabucco Gas Pipeline International presented the NabuccoWest concept in May 2012.

Turkey wants to play an active role as a partner for gas transport. The Turkish Deputy Minister for Energy and Natural Resources, Hasan Murat Merjan, expressed the initiative at the 19th Caspian Oil & Gas-2012 Conference.

Lithuanian Energy Minister Arvidas Sekmokas said on Wednesday that relations with Gazprom are not always equal. Cooperation with Azerbaijan could reduce dependence on Russian gas through swap operations. Lithuania consumes 3-4 billion cubic meters of gas annually.