A major gas deal has been signed in Azerbaijan, as European buyers move to try to find alternatives to energy from Russia.<br /><br />The agreement includes 25.4 billion euros of investment in the country’s Shah Deniz II gas field in the Caspian Sea, as well as supply pipelines.<br /><br />Participants included Britain’s BP and the Azeri state energy firm SOCAR. It was announced they have just bought a 10 percent stake in the project from Statoil of Norway. France’s Total is also in the consortium.<br /><br />In five to six year’s time it is expected to produce 16 billion cubic metres of gas annually, six billion going to Turkey, and the rest to Europe.<br /><br />Vugar Bayraml, Chairman of the Azerbaijani Centre for Economic and Social Development, said: “Azerbaijan will have a direct access to the European market and in the first year Azerbaijan will be able to export more than 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas to the European market.”<br /><br />The pipelines are the Trans-Anatolian – TANAP – through Turkey, and the Trans-Adriatic – TAP.<br /><br />The gas will travel 3,500 kilometres through Greece and Albania into Italy. <br /><br />The amount of gas coming from Azerbaijan is supposed to rise to 31 billion cubic metres per year by 2026.<br /><br />The European Commission said it could supply 20 percent of EU needs in the long term.
