BAKU, Jan 23 (Reuters) - British major BP targets 2018 forthe first gas at Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas deposit secondphase, if all necessary agreements are achieved, BP seniorofficial said on Wednesday.
"With all this achieved we will target 2018 for first gas(from Shah Deniz II). So it is an exciting time. It is the timewhen we turn Shah Deniz from sheets of paper to sheets ofsteel," Al Cook, BP-Azerbaijan vice-president, told a newsconference.
Shah Deniz, Azerbaijan's biggest gas deposit, is beingdeveloped by BP and Statoil as well as Azeri stateenergy firm SOCAR and some others.
It is estimated to contain 1.2 trillion cubic metres of gas.Production of the first phase was launched in 2006.
Officials from SOCAR were saying that the second phase wasexpected to start by the end of 2017, but SOCAR head RovnagAbdullayev said at the end of December 2012 that gas from ShahDeniz second phase would reach European markets "not earlierthan the second quarter of 2018."