Norwegian Statoil is ready to participate in financing the construction of "Baku-Tbilisi-Jeikhan" oil pipeline

/IRBIS, Feb.25, 00/ - PRIME-TASS informs, with the reference to the president of Statoil Olav Fjel, that his company - state oil company of Norway Statoil - is ready to join the financing the construction of "Baku- Tbilisi-Jeikhan" pipeline to deliver Azerabidjan oil to world markets. The president said his company was interested in financing the construction of "Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum" pipeline to deliver Azerbaijan oil to Turkey from two wells at "Shakh deniz" deposit site with essential reserves that are 70 km south-east of Baku in Caspian shelf. It is said the company has already invested $370 mln in different energy projects in Azerbaijan, and this figure is expected to increase by another $110 mln this year. Statoil is currently conducting talks with state oil company of Azerbaijan to strengthen its presence in oil and gas sector of the country, said Mr. Fjel. Previously, the American Eximbank and British-American BP Amoco expressed their financial support of the pipeline. The latter is the major operator of Azerbaijan international operation company which develops three deposit sites ("Azeri", "Chirag", "Gyuneshli") with more than 650 mln tons of proven oil reserves. Norwegian company is one of the main partners in this $12 bln project with 8.65% of stake. In "Shakh deniz" deposit site ($4 bln project, about 700 bln to 1.000 bln cubic meters of natural gas reserves, operator is again BP Amoco) development project the company has 25.5% stake. The company has also secured itself with 15% stake in $9 bln "Alov", "Araz", and "Sharg" projects in southern part of Azerbaijan sector of Caspian sea. "Baku-Tbilisi-Jeihan" pipeline stretching to 1,730 km, with 455 km going through Azerbaijan and 255 km through Georgia, and 50-60 mln tons of oil a year capacity is estimated at $2.4 bln. An international agreement on this pipeline was signed by the presidents of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey in November of 1999 in Istanbul.