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Bulgaria is interested in expanding its cooperation with Azerbaijan in the energy sphere, Bulgarian Energy, Economy and Tourism Minister Dragomir Stoynev said during his meeting with the head of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), Rovnag Abdullayev, SOCAR said.
The issue of exporting Azerbaijani gas to Europe has created great interest and the Bulgarian government attaches great importance to diversification, according to the Bulgarian minister.
In turn, the head of SOCAR expressed confidence that the cooperation between Azerbaijan and Bulgaria in the energy sphere will soon develop more rapidly.
In September2013, the consortium for the development of the Shah Deniz gas condensate field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea, signed long term contracts (25 years) with nine European companies on gas supply.
The contracts for the purchase of gas from the second phase of development of the Shah Deniz field were signed in Baku with the following companies: Shell, Bulgar Gas, DEPA, Gas Natural Fenosa, EON, Gaz de France, Hera, Enel and Axpo.
The first gas will be delivered to Turkey in 2018 and to Europe in 2019. About 10 billion cubic meters of gas will be delivered to Europe via the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline (TAP).
TAP is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region through Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and then on to Western Europe.
The initial capacity of the TAP pipeline will be 10 billion cubic meters per year with the possibility of expanding to 20 billion cubic meters per year.
TAP shareholders are BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Statoil (20 percent), Fluxys (16 percent), Total (10 percent), E.ON (nine percent) and Axpo (five percent).
Trend.az
