The gas deal signed between Turkey and Azerbaijan on June 7 allows for
gas exported to Europe to be sold at the border between Turkey and Greece, a
spokesman for Turkey's energy ministry confirmed to Platts Friday.
He said that the agreement allows for 10 billion cubic meters/year of
Azeri gas to be exported to Europe via Turkey, with the gas being sold at the
Turkey-Greek border, but that this does not preclude the gas being transported
to Europe via another route.
Currently three pipeline projects are currently hoping to secure volumes
of gas from the second phase of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas
field for export to Europe.
The Italy-Turkey-Greece-Interconnector pipeline backed by Italy's Edison
and Greece's DEPA plans to transit 8 Bcm/yr of Azeri gas through Turkey and
Greece and through a planned pipeline under the Adriatic to Italy and last
week signed an agreement with Turkey's state gas transmission company Botas
allowing for use of its infrastructure.
A rival project, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline project backed by
Switzerland's EGL, Norway's Statoil and Germany's E.ON Ruhrgas plans to
transit 10 Bcm/yr of Azeri gas across Turkey to Greece and then via a planned
new pipeline through Albania and across the Adriatic, but has yet to reach
agreements with either Turkey or Greece.
The largest of the three projects, the 31 Bcm/yr Nabucco pipeline
project, backed by a consortium of Austria's OMV, Hubngary's MOL, Romania's
Transgaz, Bulgargaz, Botas and Germany's RWE is targeting carrying around 8
Bcm/yr of Azeri gas to Europe in its start-up phase.
The 3,300 km line is slated to run from eastern Turkey via Bulgaria,
Romania and Hungary to Austria and to carry gas from multiple suppliers, with
construction estimated to cost anything up to around $8 billion.
Nabucco spokesman Christian Dolezal said in a written reply that the
clause allowing for the sale of gas at the Turkey-Greece border would not
affect the project as transit rights were already confirmed in the Nabucco
project intergovernmental agreement signed in July last year.
European gas traders will start negotiations with the Shah Deniz
consortium over the possible sale of Shah Deniz gas through the planned
Nabucco line, he confirmed.
Those meetings are supposed to result eventually in agreements for the
sale of multiple small volumes of Shah Deniz gas through Nabucco to multiple
buyers in Europe, via blocks of reserved capacity in the planned Nabucco line,
a system which has been criticized as over complex.
Speaking to Platts, Kjetil Tungland, project director for the TAP project
confirmed to Platts that TAP had been structured specifically to carry Azeri
gas which would be sold at the Turkey-Greece border, as allowed for in the
recent Turkey-Azerbaijan agreement.
The final decision on which pipeline or pipelines will be used to export
the gas from the second phase of development of Shah Deniz rests with the Shah
Deniz consortium. The consortium consists of BP (25.5%), Statoil (25.5%),
SOCAR (10%), Total (10%), LukAgip (10%), NICO(10%), and TPAO (9%), and is
bound by Azeri law to reach a collective agreement on where it will sell the
expected 16 Bcm/yr production.
To date only Statoil has openly expressed a preference for which pipeline
it backs as a member of the consortium promoting the TAP project.
However Turkish officials have for some months been openly confirming
that Turkey backs the ITGI project with which Botas recently signed a
transmission agreement, and which TPAO, as Turkey's state owned upstream
operator is also expected to support.
gas exported to Europe to be sold at the border between Turkey and Greece, a
spokesman for Turkey's energy ministry confirmed to Platts Friday.
He said that the agreement allows for 10 billion cubic meters/year of
Azeri gas to be exported to Europe via Turkey, with the gas being sold at the
Turkey-Greek border, but that this does not preclude the gas being transported
to Europe via another route.
Currently three pipeline projects are currently hoping to secure volumes
of gas from the second phase of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas
field for export to Europe.
The Italy-Turkey-Greece-Interconnector pipeline backed by Italy's Edison
and Greece's DEPA plans to transit 8 Bcm/yr of Azeri gas through Turkey and
Greece and through a planned pipeline under the Adriatic to Italy and last
week signed an agreement with Turkey's state gas transmission company Botas
allowing for use of its infrastructure.
A rival project, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline project backed by
Switzerland's EGL, Norway's Statoil and Germany's E.ON Ruhrgas plans to
transit 10 Bcm/yr of Azeri gas across Turkey to Greece and then via a planned
new pipeline through Albania and across the Adriatic, but has yet to reach
agreements with either Turkey or Greece.
The largest of the three projects, the 31 Bcm/yr Nabucco pipeline
project, backed by a consortium of Austria's OMV, Hubngary's MOL, Romania's
Transgaz, Bulgargaz, Botas and Germany's RWE is targeting carrying around 8
Bcm/yr of Azeri gas to Europe in its start-up phase.
The 3,300 km line is slated to run from eastern Turkey via Bulgaria,
Romania and Hungary to Austria and to carry gas from multiple suppliers, with
construction estimated to cost anything up to around $8 billion.
Nabucco spokesman Christian Dolezal said in a written reply that the
clause allowing for the sale of gas at the Turkey-Greece border would not
affect the project as transit rights were already confirmed in the Nabucco
project intergovernmental agreement signed in July last year.
European gas traders will start negotiations with the Shah Deniz
consortium over the possible sale of Shah Deniz gas through the planned
Nabucco line, he confirmed.
Those meetings are supposed to result eventually in agreements for the
sale of multiple small volumes of Shah Deniz gas through Nabucco to multiple
buyers in Europe, via blocks of reserved capacity in the planned Nabucco line,
a system which has been criticized as over complex.
Speaking to Platts, Kjetil Tungland, project director for the TAP project
confirmed to Platts that TAP had been structured specifically to carry Azeri
gas which would be sold at the Turkey-Greece border, as allowed for in the
recent Turkey-Azerbaijan agreement.
The final decision on which pipeline or pipelines will be used to export
the gas from the second phase of development of Shah Deniz rests with the Shah
Deniz consortium. The consortium consists of BP (25.5%), Statoil (25.5%),
SOCAR (10%), Total (10%), LukAgip (10%), NICO(10%), and TPAO (9%), and is
bound by Azeri law to reach a collective agreement on where it will sell the
expected 16 Bcm/yr production.
To date only Statoil has openly expressed a preference for which pipeline
it backs as a member of the consortium promoting the TAP project.
However Turkish officials have for some months been openly confirming
that Turkey backs the ITGI project with which Botas recently signed a
transmission agreement, and which TPAO, as Turkey's state owned upstream
operator is also expected to support.
