Azerbaijan known in world as reliable partner exporting oil, gas to markets
In late 2016, BP and Azerbaijan agreed to extend the ACG deal up to 2050, which will add significant resource development potential. By extending the 1994 agreement, Azerbaijan will be able to preserve its oil income for many years.
President Aliyev further stressed that the Shah Deniz Project needs to be highlighted when speaking about the International Caspian Oil & Gas Exhibition’s importance.
He reminded that the contract on the Shah Deniz Project was signed in 1996 exactly during the International Caspian Oil & Gas Exhibition.
“That time, Azerbaijan was known as solely an oil country. Implementation of the Shah Deniz Project has turned Azerbaijan into a country producing and exporting both oil and gas,” he added. “Today, we cannot imagine the regional cooperation without the Shah Deniz Project, because the Shah Deniz project is a project that solves exactly the energy security issues.”
Gas volumes in the Shah Deniz reservoirs are so vast that they will not only meet the needs of Azerbaijan and its regional neighbors, but provide significant supplies to Europe. With a five-year extension to the original PSA signed last year, Shah Deniz will produce natural gas until at least 2036.
The SGC aims to provide increased energy security for Europe, bringing affordable gas supplies initially from Shah Deniz, and paving the way for future gas delivery from the wider Caspian region and, potentially, the Middle East.
President Aliyev further said that over the past years, Azerbaijan has been able to create a manybranched oil and gas transportation network. He pointed to the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and BakuSupsa oil pipelines, and reminded that the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline has been operating for 10 years already.
“All of these are historic projects,” he said, further adding that Azerbaijan’s oil and gas projects are the guarantors of the region’s security, stability, and development.
Reminding that Azerbaijan is today implementing the Southern Gas Corridor project, the president said the project is unique on the global scale.
The project holds the first place among the infrastructure projects in Europe, Ilham Aliyev said, adding $40 billion are envisaged to be invested in the project, and a great part of this figure has already been invested.
“The work is continuing successfully on four segments of the Southern Gas Corridor,” he said, revealing the figures on implementation of the four SGC projects. “The Shah Deniz 2 project has been implemented by 93 percent. The South Caucasus Pipeline has been realized by 85 percent. The TANAP project has been implemented by 72 percent and we are expecting to mark the commissioning of the TANAP project the next year. And the fourth project is the TAP, which is complete by 42 percent.”
These figures are demonstrative, he said, adding, “They show that all the work is going on in line with the plan and we are near to completing the Southern Gas Corridor project.”
President Aliyev also said the Southern Gas Corridor’s realization starts new projects, adding the major Absheron project’s commencement is to come next.
“At the same time, the Umid, Babek and shallow water projects are being implemented,” he said, adding that new production is expected to start in the years to come.
“This means we are boosting our oil and gas potential,” he said, stressing that Azerbaijan is investing the oil money to other sectors and is seeing the excellent result of this.
The U.S. remains strongly committed to the Southern Gas Corridor project and welcomes the efforts of Azerbaijan and its international partners to complete it, said President Donald Trump in his welcome letter to the participants of the Caspian Oil and Gas 2017.
“I appreciate Azerbaijan’s important role in the global energy security including the development and exportation of energy resources from the Caspian region,” the message read. “I support and encourage Azerbaijan’s efforts to diversify its economy and look forward to exploring other areas of cooperation to the benefits of both our people.”
Donald Trump stressed that the U.S. is ready to work with Azerbaijan as the country continues to undertake economic and governmental reforms.
Azerbaijan’s gas will be an important source of stability, said Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union in his video message to participants of the event.
“Azerbaijan is a very important partner for Europe. It is the key enabler of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is strategic in helping the EU to further diversify its energy sources, to achieve its climate goals and to improve geopolitical balance and stability in Europe,” said Sefcovic.
He expressed confidence about bringing Azerbaijani gas to Europe in 2020. “It will help us with our goals as I just mentioned and it will of course serve all the participating countries, both in and outside the EU,” said the EU commissioner. “This gas will be an important source of revenues and an important source of stability and security, which arises from a firm reliable partnership. This is a project of vast proportions, and has therefore been prominent on our agenda for a considerable time now.”
Sefcovic further noted that the cooperation of the EU with Azerbaijan already serves all three objectives of Energy Union: security, competitiveness, and sustainability.
“There is much more we can do together – especially regarding environmental and climate issues,” he said.
Sponsored by Azerbaijan's Ministry of Energy and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) the 24th International Caspian Oil & Gas Exhibition and Conference is co-organized by ITE Group and its partner Iteca Caspian.
About 300 companies from more than 30 countries, including Azerbaijan, US, Belarus, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Kazakhstan, China, the Netherlands, Poland, Japan are participating in the conference. Italy is participating in the exhibition with its national pavilion. The companies from the US, UK, Romania and a number of other countries are among the debutants which make up 15 per cent of the total number of participants.
The conference provides suppliers with the opportunity to talk to customers and colleagues, to present technologies and services in action, to acquire useful business contacts, and to get new information and technologies, expanding the opportunities for international collaboration in the oil and gas sector.