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Niccoló Heilpern, KT - Kinetics Technology Azerbaijan Branch Manager, presenting Group’s point: geographically, it represents the most viable
key figures during COG Exhibition 2016
was the Italian national stand, comprising several
companies led by ICE, the Italian Trade Agency.
The exhibition included several thematic sections:
innovative technologies in oil production and trans- current state of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC)
porting energy resources; securing oil and gas
storage systems; opportunities for developing in-
ternational cooperation, just to mention some.
An integral part of Caspian Oil and Gas was the
demonstration of technological innovations, with
several interacting sessions spread during the four
days meeting. Along with the exhibition, the Oil &
Let’s have a closer look. From 2003 to
2015, the Country’s oil production almost
tripled, showing a rise from approximately
300,000 barrels of oil per day to almost
850,000. Coherently, gas recorded a
boost as significant as the oil one: 2003
accounted for a production of 4.6 billion
cubic meters of gas, to a figure that stood
at almost 14 in 2015
Gas Conference was the other major event of this
4-days “oil & gas marathon”. During the two-day
conference some 50 presentations were given by
representatives of government bodies, leading ex-
perts in the oil and gas industry, and directors of
major oil & gas companies from across the world.
Key discussions targeted big picture issues such
as the crucial role of Azerbaijan in ensuring ener-
gy supply in Eurasia, and namely the steps to be
taken in order to ensure production, management
and transportation of energy resource amid low oil
prices. In this view, new financing solutions to im-
plement large-scale projects are at hand, in which
all active stakeholders, from lenders to technical
consultants to contractors and end users, act as
an integrated body to leverage on their respective
area of expertise, as well as to share risks related to
the projects. Secondly, the domestic energy policy
scenario was the other main driver of discussion,
which is already set to prioritize the ramp up of the
region’s infrastructure to support the fast-track de-
velopment of the mid and downstream sector.
Let’s see what came out from the main panels of
discussion at the conference. As per the midstream
segment, Azerbaijan is at an historical turning
78 Impiantistica Italiana - Luglio-Agosto 2016
crossroad for East-West routes, so it is paramount
to expedite and then continuously improve its ca-
pability to act as an integrated hub for Central Asia
and as a bridge to Europe and the West. Accord-
ingly, one of the most addressed topics was the
Project, and its progress on the short run. The SGC
is without any doubts the most complex gas val-
ue chains ever developed in the world: it stretches
for 3,500 km crossing seven countries, from Azer-
baijan, namely starting from the Shah Deniz 2 gas
field, to the Southern part of Italy. It is composed by
three “legs”: the South Caucasus Pipeline Expan-
sion (SCPX), from Azerbaijan to the Georgia-Turkey
border; The Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline
(Tanap), from Georgia to Greece, and the Trans
Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), from Greece to Italy. In a
nutshell, it is one of the spears of EU energy policy,
and aims not only at providing economic benefits,
it will also ensure that one of the continent’s vital
energy routes remains viable for decades to come.
Although historically an oil producer, Azerbaijan’s im-
portance as a natural gas producer and exporter is
growing. Until 2007, Azerbaijan was a net importer
of natural gas, dependent on imports from Russia,
and had to rely on its neighbor as a transit country
too, in order to ensure an effective export route for
its oil. Then, two pipelines started flowing though the
Caspian region without stepping on Russian soil, a
major change as far as international economic pol-
icies were concerned. But the midstream was not
the only focus of COG 2016: significant steps have
been taken also with regard to the processing seg-
ment of the hydrocarbon value chain.
Strong downstream prospects
Since 1994, Azerbaijan has been developing a ro-
bust upstream oil & gas sector and has now set its
sights on downstream investments in refining and
petrochemicals.
Let’s have a closer look. From 2003 to 2015, the
Country’s oil production almost tripled, showing a
rise from approximately 300,000 barrels of oil per
day to almost 850,000. Coherently, gas recorded a
boost as significant as the oil one: 2003 account-
ed for a production of 4.6 billion cubic meters of
gas, to a figure that stood at almost 14 in 2015.
Hence, a threefold increase in such a relatively
short period required Socar to address a newly
born necessity, building up the downstream sec-
tor which was lacking some strategic production
fulcrums: we’ll come to that shortly. In 2011, So-
car launched the 2025 Complex Strategic Devel-
opment Plan, establishing a clear and well defined
outline of projects to be implemented in the very
next future. The plan includes the development of
upstream operations, such as the Shah Deniz and
Absheron gasfield, midstream infrastructure for
the already mentioned Southern Gas Corridor, as