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364686
Thu, 04/23/2015 - 08:24
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Turkish Stream not rival to Southern Gas Corridor projects – SOCAR

Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.22 Trend: Turkish Stream gas pipeline project is not a rival to the Southern Gas Corridor projects in terms of Azerbaijani gas supply to Europe, an official from Azerbaijani State Oil Company told RIA Novosti. Vagif Aliyev, head of SOCAR Investments Department said that the company is considering the possibility of attracting cheap loans from the European Union to finance the TAP and TANAP projects. Currently, Azerbaijan finances its shares in the projects with its own funds, so do its partners in these projects, according to Aliyev. “But it doesn’t rule out the possibility of changing the structure of financing,” said the SOCAR representative. “Such decision hasn’t been made for present, but we discuss this with our partners. The talks haven’t started yet.” Aliyev added that the financing doesn’t envisage the issuance of bonds. It is considered to attract loans from banks, Aliyev said. “We suppose, the European Investment Bank and possibly, EBRD are interested in this.” “We will attract funds for each project separately,” Vagif Aliyev said. “If there is cheap money, then why not attract them?” The Southern Gas Corridor will allow Europe to diversify its hydrocarbon supply sources and strengthen energy security and also will allow Azerbaijan to obtain a new market in Europe. Azerbaijani gas is designed to open the Southern Gas Corridor. The final investment decision was made on Dec.17, 2013 on the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz offshore gas and condensate field's development. The gas produced at this field will first go to the European market (10 billion cubic meters), while six billion cubic meters of gas will be annually delivered to Turkey. The contract for development of the Shah Deniz offshore field was signed on June 4, 1996. The field’s reserve is estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas and 240 million metric tons of condensate. As part of the second stage of the field’s development, gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus gas pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic (TAP) gas pipelines. Turkish Stream envisages transportation of gas from Russia to Turkey through the Black Sea. The pipeline’s pumping capacity will by 63 billion cubic meters and it is planned to deliver around 50 billion cubic meters of this volume to the new gas hub on Turkish-Greek border. Follow us on Twitter @TRENDNewsAgency

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