The working visit to Baku of Georgian delegation was finished. The delegation was led by the Prime Minster of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili. The purpose of the visit was participation in International conference held in Baku. The resolution on Shah-Deniz II phase funding agreement was signed during the conference. The President of Azerbaijan Ilhan Aliev opened the conference. The Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili who also made a speech, spoke about the importance of "Shah-Deniz" oil pipeline II phase project.
The project envisages expansion of South Caucasus pipeline in order to deliver additionally 16 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey annually. The parallel pipeline construction is planned as well - 387 km within Azerbaijan and 55 km - within Georgia territory. Two additional compressor stations, a new pressure regulating and a metering station are planned to be installed in Georgia.
Within Shah-Deniz II phase, 400-700 million dollars will be invested in Georgia. During the peak construction period nearly 2 000 permanent working places and during the operation period almost 130 places will be created in the country.
Apart from this, Georgia will additionally receive natural gas after putting the pipeline into operation.
According to the existent agreement, Georgia can purchase the transit natural gas at 5% reduced price that in case of maximal load of the given gas pipe, additionally makes up more than billion cubic meters of gas annually. At the same time, for the construction of parallel pipeline, approximately 350 000 tons of construction materials and cargo will be transported by means of Georgian ports and railways.
Shah-Deniz oil deposit is the largest mine in Azerbaijan located in the Caspian Sea. The deposit was discovered in 1999. The mine operators are the companies - BP (25.5%), Statoil (25.5%), SOCAR (10%), Total S.A. (10%), LUKoil (10%), NIOC (10%), TPAO (9%). "Shah Deniz" mine reserve makes up nearly 1 trillion cubic meters. Gas and condensed gas started to be extracted from the deposit in 2006.