Baku News

29 May 2008 - ARA - "GUAM member countries establish their activities on the basis of regional cooperation and development", said Valeriy Chechelashvili, GUAM Secretary General at the GUAM development strategy conference in Baku, APA reports. He said GUAM countries had same priorities of foreign policy and integration to the Euro-Atlantic region. "GUAM targets are to achieve stability in Caspian and Black Sea regions and to unify reintegration capacities of member countries". The Secretary General said GUAM increased its budget from 1.5 billion USD to 3 billions and trade turnover between the countries would reach 4 billions USD. He said one of the main targets is to reach 10 billion USD in trade turnover in next 10 years. Director of political department of Georgian Foreign Ministry David Dondua urged GUAM countries to restore their energy security. "GUAM countries can play a role of transit between Asia and Europe". Ukrainian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Boris Krimchuk said GUAM achieved great political and economic successes during the Azerbaijan’s chairmanship in the organization. Moldovan ambassador to Azerbaijan Ion Robu emphasized the necessity of youth festivals within the GUAM framework.

26 May 2008 - Today.Az - The Bahar-Hovsan-Surakhany gas pipeline will be launched in by the end of this year. Day.Az reports with reference to the press service for SOCAR, the gas pipeline will consist of two parts. A 37 kilometer section of the Bahar-Hovsany gas pipeline will be laid on the Caspian shelf and 12 kilometer Hovsan-Surakhany section on the land. The new gas pipeline will ensure natural gas for the population and industrial objects of the adjacent regions, mainly, the Shimal electric station. The gas pipeline capacity will make 5 mln cubic meters daily. The gas will come from the Guneshli pipeline. Currently, the gas pipeline laying onshore and offshore is underway. The gas pipeline is expected to be launched in October-November of this year.

May 20, 2008 - Kommersant - Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow began his first visit to Baku yesterday and held talks with Azeri President Ilham Aliev. The main topic of their discussion was the construction of the Transcaspian natural gas pipeline bypassing Russia. If the two leaders come to an agreement, Russia’s position as monopolist in the transit of Central Asian energy resources will be undermined. The countries’ former leaders, Heidar Aliev and Saparmurat Niyazov, disliked each other intensely. Their antipathy was largely based on a conflict of interests: they were unable to share the Kyapaz oil field (known as the Serdar field in Turkmenistan), on the Caspian Sea, containing 100-150 million tons of oil. In addition, Baku owed Ashgabat money for fuel since the early 1990s. Niyazov closed the Turkmen embassy in Baku in 2001. Relations between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan improved with Niyazov’s death and Berdimuhammedow’s ascension in 2006. Delegations were exchanged, and this year a joint commission on economic cooperation was set up. Baku paid its $44.8-million debt, and the Turkmen embassy in Baku reopened in April. The presidential talks took place in private and only the Azeri state television and AzerTAg information agency were accredited to cover Berdimuhammedow’s visit. But the topic of their talks was known in advance, thanks to a statement made by Azeri Minister of Industry and Energy Natik Aliev. It is a topic that the United States and European Union have been encouraging for a long time. Last year, the U.S. State Department even gave a grant for a feasibility study of the pipeline project. EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner visited Ashgabat in April.

BAKU, April 30 (RIA Novosti) - BP is planning to produce 7.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 1.9 million tons of condensate from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea in 2008, the British energy giant said on Wednesday. BP is developing the huge field under a production sharing agreement along with six other companies including Norway's Statoil, France's Total, and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan. The company said that 3.1 billion cu m of gas and 0.8 million tons of condensate had been produced at Shah Deniz in 2007. Daily output currently stands at 19.8 million cu m of gas and 40,000 barrels of condensate. During the project's first stage, annual gas output at the Shah Deniz field is expected to reach 8.5 billion cubic meters annually. The company said operational spending will reach $123 million this year, with capital spending at $496 million. Annual gas output is expected to reach 12 billion cubic meters by 2012 during the project's second stage, and 20 billion cubic meters by 2015 during the third stage.