INTERFAX
October 1

Uzbekistan will be unable to join the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) gas pipeline project, an Azerbaijani official has said.

"I don't see how the Uzbeks could join," Natik Aliyev, head of the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR), said with regard to statements by Georgian official on the possibility of Uzbekistan taking part.

"The pipeline is being built for stage one of the Shah Deniz project, which already has its shareholders. Uzbekistan could not join unless it bought one of those shareholders out," Aliyev said.

But not even that would solve the problem. "The necessary agreements must be in place on the purchase-sale and transit of gas and so on if gas is to be supplied to Turkey or Georgia."

Uzbekistan could supply its own gas to Georgia, though. "It has two options - one to supply it via Russia and the other via Azerbaijan. We have an old trunk pipeline that used to carry gas to Georgia in Soviet times, but it has not been used for a long time and is not in working order. It is being repaired, though, and Uzbekistan could use it, but for a fee of course," Aliyev said.

The Shah Deniz project is handled by a consortium that includes SOCAR (which holds a 10% stake in it), BP (25.5%), Norway's Statoil (25.5%), France's TotalFinaElf (10%), Russian-Italian venture LUKAgip (10%), Iran's OEIC (10%), and Turkey's TPAO (9%).

Shakh-Deniz contains a recoverable 625 billion cu m of gas and 101 million tonnes of condensate. Phase One involves producing 178 billion cu m of gas and 34 million tonnes of condensate a year.

Phase One of the Shah-Deniz project costs are $3.2 billion, including construction costs for the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline ($900 million). The field contains about one trillion cubic meters of gas. Exports along the pipeline to Turkey and onwards to Greece should begin in the second half of 2006.

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