Shah Deniz will Cost $30 Billion, says Socar Chief
The price tag for the next phase of the Shah Deniz natural gas project will be around $30 billion (€22.7bn), according to Rovnaq Abdullayev, president of State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (Socar).
Azerbaijan is the source country for the project, which is managed by a consortium led by energy major BP.
Speaking in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, and quoted by agencies, Abdullayev said that the next phase would absorb around $6 billion.
The previous estimate for the project, which aims to bring high volumes of gas from the vast Azeri field to western Europe, was $25 billion.
“In total, the second phase of Shah Deniz will cost $28 billion to $30 billion,” Abdullayev told reporters.
"Construction of Trans-Anatolian pipeline will start next year. TANAP project will cost $7-10 bn. In general, Shah Deniz-2 project will cost $28-30 billion. The first transportation of gas will be started at the end of 2017 or early 2018,"Abdullayev said. The budget for 2013 has been ratified, he said.
Annual capacity of the pipeline is predicted to be 16 billion cubic metres, with the flow starting in approximately five years.
BP is developing the Shah Deniz field in partnership with Socar, Statoil ASA, Total SA, OAO Lukoil, Turkiye Petrolleri AO and Naftiran Intertrade Co.
The Shah Deniz partners plan to make the final investment decision on the second phase of Shah Deniz phase at the end of 2013, Abdullayev said.