The Shah Deniz consortium aims to reach a decision on the destination of gas from the Shah Deniz field by the end of November.
The consortium is set to choose between three pipeline projects which will re-shape the European gas landscape, reducing the continent’s reliance on Russian gas and introducing an element of competition from the Caspian in wholesale supply markets.
“Shah Deniz consortium will take a decision on a route of the pipeline project for gas exports to Europe in October-November,” Rovnag Abdullayev, head of SOCAR told reporters yesterday.
The Shah Deniz field is estimated to contain 1.2 trillion cubic metres of natural gas, enough to power Europe until the middle of the century. The first phase began production in 2006, with Phase II due to some on stream in 2017.
SOCAR has previously missed self-announced deadlines on picking a pipeline.
The Nabucco pipeline is competing with the Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy (ITGI) and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) projects to win feedstock commitments. BP, which operates Shah Deniz II, has expressed a preference for a smaller pipeline.
