The total cost of the second phase of Azerbaijan's giant Shah Deniz gas condensate field will be between $16 billion and $20 billion, the country's energy minister, Natiq Aliyev, said Monday.
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev had earlier said stage two of the Shah Deniz field would add 12 billion to 14 billion cubic meters to the field's total output.
Shah Deniz is operated by U.K. oil major BP PLC (BP). Other shareholders in the project include Norway's StatoilHydro ASA (STL.OS), France's Total S.A. (TOT), Russia's OAO Lukoil Holdings (LKOH.RS) and Azeri state oil firm Socar.
The energy minister said exports from Azerbaijan to Europe could rise to between 15 billion and 20 billion cubic meters a year in the period from 2015 to 2030.
Exports to Europe from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, two other Central Asian gas producers, could rise to between 20 billion and 30 billion cubic meters a year and between 10 billion and 15 billion cubic meters a year respectively, the minister said.