By Nailia Bagirova
BAKU, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Gas from Azerbaijan's giant Shah
Deniz field is not expected to reach Europe before October 2020
due to delays in finishing the TAP pipeline in Italy, the head
of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) consortium
told Reuters.
TANAP, a 1,850 km pipeline through Turkey, is a part of the
Southern Gas Corridor, carrying gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz
II field. It also includes the South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP)
extension through Georgia and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP)
to Greece, Albania and Italy.
The Shah Deniz I field has been pumping gas since 2006,
selling it to neighbouring Georgia and Turkey, while output from
Shah Deniz II is expected to reach 16 billion cubic metres (bcm)
of natural gas per year by 2021, with 10 bcm earmarked for
Europe and 6 bcm for Turkey.
"Commercial deliveries of Azeri gas to Europe can begin no
earlier than Oct 2020, since the construction work on the TAP
pipeline can be completed by this date," Saltuk Duzyol told
Reuters in an interview.
Developing the $40 billion Southern Gas Corridor is a major
step in European Union efforts to secure gas supplies and reduce
its dependence on existing sources such as Russia and Norway.
Parts of the corridor in Georgia and Turkey are completed
and the first commercial deliveries of gas from Shah Deniz II to
Turkey began in July 2018, although the TAP project, which
includes Britain's BP, Italy's Snam and Spain's
Enagas, has faced delays to construction due to
environmental issues.
Completion was expected by early 2020, although Duzyol said
the TAP consortium faced "some technical difficulties as well as
other non-technical issues that affected their success".
Duzyol said that if the pipeline system was not operational
by July 1 next year, the TANAP consortium had the right to
invoice Azerbaijan Gas Supply Company (AGSC), which handles gas
sales from Shah Deniz.
AGSC was established by Azeri state energy firm SOCAR and
its partners in the Shah Deniz project.
"It is not TANAP, but the other parties that have not yet
reached project completion," he said. "Commercially, according
to our gas transportation agreements, we are entitled to issue
invoices starting from July 1 next year."
Under the Shah Deniz II gas sales deal, AGSC has to pay
fines to gas buyers if they do not get supplies by July 1, 2020.
Duzyol said gas volumes had been supplied to Turkey
gradually, starting with 1.9 bcm a year, rising to 5.7 bcm by
June 2021. He also said capacity could be boosted to 31 bcm by
adding compressor stations along pipeline.
He added that 2.7 bcm was delivered to Turkey from June 2018
until Sept. 30 this year.
Duzyol said TANAP shareholders were expected to get $1.45
billion in annual income over 15 years.
TANAP's shareholders are Azeri state energy company SOCAR
(51%), Turkish firm Botas (30%), BP (12%) and SOCAR Turkey (7%).
(Writing by Margarita Antidze; editing by David Evans)
BP (BP.)
