Half of the $42bn that Azerbaijan’s mammoth offshore Shah Deniz 2 (SD2) gas field is expected to cost has now been spent and over 72% of its development complete, the head of the investment department at Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR Vagif Aliev told a press conference this week. Gas extraction from SD2 is on track to begin by the middle of 2018, he predicted, with exports to Turkey expected to start by the end of the same year.
The South Caucasus pipeline (SCP) expansion, which will run from the Sangachal terminal near Baku through Georgia to the Turkish border where it will link up with the TANAP Trans Anatolian pipeline was now over halfway to completion, he added, and would also be ready by the middle of 2018. Just over one quarter of the entire TANAP pipeline has now been built.
“We are in talks with international financial institution to attract more funds for Southern Gas Corridor (SGC). However, it does not mean we are experiencing any difficulties with investing in the project,” he said.