Plans to deliver natural gas to the Balkans from the Shah Deniz offshore energy field are proceeding. In July, Ankara and Baku signed an agreement clearing the way to allow the international energy consortium that is developing the field to ship gas through existing pipelines in Turkey.
The amount of gas from the initial Shah Deniz project is limited, so Balkan leaders would be interested customers primarily for energy security, says the Atlantic Council's senior fellow Borut Grgic. The gas should be available for delivery in 2014 (Today.AZ, 09 August 2010).
Meanwhile, the consortium operating Shah Deniz 2 has begun talks with potential partners, according to the Norwegian energy company Statoil. (Today.AZ, 06 August 2010). This would bring an additional 10 bcm a year of gas onto the market, and would represent a 1/3 increase in Azeri natural gas production--and becoming the source of 1/4 of all Azeri natural gas.
Dr. James J. Coyle is available to speak to your organization or at your event. Please contact him at jimcoyle@verizon.net.
