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BAKU, May 21 (Reuters) - Foreign capital investment inAzerbaijan's economy rose 22 percent to 1.44 billion manats($1.8 billion) in January-April 2014, with the bulk of it goinginto the energy sector, a source at the State Statisticscommittee said.
He said the rise in investment was linked to the start ofpurchases of equipment for the major Shah Deniz project.
"Foreign investment in Azerbaijan's oil sector rose by 32.1percent year-on-year in January-April this year," said thesource, who did not want to be named.
He added investments mainly came from Britain, Turkey, theUnited States, Norway and France.
"Companies from these countries are main suppliers ofequipment for the Shah Deniz project."
Shah Deniz, Azerbaijan's biggest gas field, is beingdeveloped by consortium partners including Britain's BP,Norway's Statoil and Azeri state energy company SOCAR.
Shah Deniz I has been pumping gas since 2006 and has anannual production capacity of about 10 billion cubic metres(bcm) of natural gas.
The next phase, Shah Deniz II, is important for Europe in providing an alternative gas supply to Russia's Gazprom. It is expected to produce 16 bcm of gas per year fromaround 2019, with 10 bcm earmarked for Europe and 6 bcm forTurkey.
Capital investment from foreign investors in Azerbaijan was$5.3 billion in 2013.
($1=0.78 manats) (Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; Writing by Margarita Antidze;editing by Keiron Henderson)
