Business

INITIAL CONTRACTS FOR SANGACHAL TERMINAL SIGNED

By Tofig Niftaliyev Azernews Staff Writer

Two initial contracts for expansion of the Sangachal Terminal were signed at the Terminal Wednesday. Signing the contracts costing $78 million on behalf of the AIOC and the Shahdaniz Production Sharing Agreement and the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan partners were bp Associate President in Azerbaijan David Woodward and on behalf of Azfen-Tekfen Alliance its chairman Nihad Gokigid.

The first contract totaling $8 million deals with initial civil works, while the second is on main construction activities with the value of $70 million.

Following the signing ceremony SOCAR President Natig Aliyev and AIOC President David Woodward placed "a time capsule" with a letter for posterity in it into the basement of what is believed to be the extension to the Sangachal Terminal.

According to manager of the Sangachal Terminal Jacobs Newbenhouse, a space of 1,300,000 square meters will be cleared up, 650,000 cubic meters of land excavated, a 7200 meter long fence constructed and a main access road running 2750 meters built as part of the early civil works. The second contract includes the erection and installation of approximately 2,500 tons of equipment, vessels and pumps. This equipment is hooked up with nearly 60,000 meters of steel pipework, up to 36" diameter, 20,000 meters of cable tray and `rack and 350,000 meters of cabling.

The work is scheduled to complete in September 2004.

Witnessing the signing ceremony were minister for fuel and energy Majid Karimov, foreign minister Vilayat Guliyev, President of the Oil Fund of Azerbaijan Samir Sharifov and other officials.

Gas pipeline

Agreement has been reached with bp on laying a 28-inch pipeline to the Sangachal Terminal from Drilling and Lodging Platform 1 in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli contract area, SOCAR President Natig Aliyev told journalists.

Earlier, there were plans to construct a 30-inch oil conduit and convert the existing undersea oil pipeline into a gas pipe.

AZERI-TURKISH GAS DEAL TAKING SHAPE

By Azernews Staff

An Azeri-Turkish gas deal to export gas from the Shahdaniz field in the Caspian via Georgia to Erzurum in Eastern Turkey is taking shape, as the Azerbaijan government signed contracts with the investors of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline at the Ministry of Fuel and Energy in Baku Thursday.

The parties signed "An agreement with the government of the transit country" for transit and transportation of natural gas and relevant contracts covering production sharing, establishment of a gas providing company, the commercial principle of the Shahdaniz project, and state guarantees.

Signing the documents were Azeri minister for fuel and energy Majid Karimov and heads of the Shahdaniz partners, bp, Statoil, SOCAR, TotalFinaElf, LukAgip, NIKO and TPAO.

The contracts signed are the supplements to the Intergovernmental Agreement that has been ratified at the parliaments of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. The project will be implemented in July of 2002.

bp and Statoil possess 25% stakes each in the PSA of the Shahdaniz project, while SOCAR has 10%, TotalFinaElf - 10%, LukAgip - 10%, NIKO - 10% and TPAO - 9%.

Similar contracts with the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum investors will also be signed by the Georgian and Turkish governments.

ALSTOM TO EQUIP SUMGAYIT POWER PLANT

A working consultation on technical equipment of Sumgayit Heating Power Station-1 with gas turbines and steam-gas technologies was held Thursday with the participation of specialists from Azerenergy joint stock company and the Swiss division of transnational Alstom. The participants signed a protocol following the meeting.

The parties agreed that the most reasonable option under existing and future workload and plans to secure high reliability was the construction of 450-500 Mega Watts strong gas and steam block comprising two gas turbine facilities and a steam turbine.

The specialists favored step-by-step construction of the block due to restricted funds. The first stage may be implemented within 24 months and the second in 18 months.

Alstom has undertaken to finance a deep feasibility study into the project with the precondition that Azerenergy experts should participate, the JSC said Thursday.

According to Alstom spokesman Constantine Sokolov, the company intends to involve lenders in the implementation of the project, as negotiations are being held with German Bayrische Landesbank Girozentrale and the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation.

BAKCELL OFFERS NEW SERVICE

Bakcell joint venture is offering a new Gin Petrol service for Gin Card subscribers, enabling them to win free fuel for cars when buying cards.

Dialing 293, a subscriber undergoes registration, joining the Gin Petrol system with a subscription fee being 293 seconds of talk time monthly. Buying AZM50,000 worth of a Gin Card, the subscriber is entitled to have 5 liters of gasoline free, while an AZM100,000 card brings 10 liters of free petrol.

Gasoline is free only for LUKoil service stations.