Country eyes to ensure gasification of Albania

Currently, the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR is waiting for the decision of the Albanian government on the feasibility study of the general gas supply plan for the country.

“The final document of the feasibility study of Albania’s gasification plan has already been prepared by the consultant of the Albanian government, and we have assisted and made comments. The feasibility study has already been submitted to the government and needs to be approved,” the head of SOCAR Balkan, Murad Heydarov, told Trend.

He emphasized that SOCAR Balkan is not a contractor of this project.

“Immediately after completing the approval procedure for the feasibility study, within its framework, as one of the priority projects, the Albanian government and Albgaz should build a gas pipeline between the cities of Fier, where the TAP pumping station is located, and Vlore, where the gas power station is located. In accordance with the bilateral commitments between the governments of Azerbaijan and Albania, we will carry out a detailed design of this project free of charge,” he added.

A memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the development of a general plan for the gasification of Albania was signed between Azerbaijan and Albania in December 2014.

Albania is one of the European countries that that is set to receive the supplies of the Azerbaijani gas within the framework of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) aimed at ensuring energy security of Europe.

Baku hosted the launch ceremony of the first phase of the Southern Gas Corridor project on May 29, and on June 12, the opening ceremony of TANAP pipeline was held in the Turkish province of Eskisehir with the participation of the presidents of Azerbaijan - Ilham Aliyev, Turkey - Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ukraine - Petro Poroshenko and Serbia - Alexander Vucic.

Thus, the first gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field coming out of the Sangachal terminal expanded for Shah Deniz-2 project and passing through the expanded South Caucasus Gas Pipeline, has already gone through the first segment of the Southern Gas Corridor. The next stage was the commissioning of the TANAP gas pipeline, through which the gas enters the territory of Turkey and passes on further to Europe.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority projects for the European Union which aims to diversify routes and sources of energy supplies and thereby improve the energy security of Europe.

The SGC is intended to deliver 10 billion cubic meters gas from the Azerbaijani gas condensate field Shah Deniz through Georgia and Turkey to Europe.

At the initial stage, the gas produced within the second phase of the development of the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas and condensate field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor project. At a later stage other sources may be connected to the project.

Shah Deniz gas condensate field, reserves of which are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas is one of the largest fields of Azerbaijan. Within the second stage of field development, the volume of gas production can be increased to 24 billion cubic meters per year, according to forecasts.

The total cost of the Southern Gas Corridor project is estimated at $41.5 billion.