Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas condensate field will produce around 9 billion cubic meters in 2009, and output will stay at that level until 2012 or 2013 when the launch of the second phase of the field is planned, the country's energy minister, Natiq Aliyev, said Friday.
The second stage of the Shah Deniz field, which is operated by U.K. oil major BP PLC (BP), is expected to produce between 12 billion cubic meters and 14 billion cubic meters of gas a year.
Development of phase two is expected to cost $20 billion, the minister said.
Besides BP, shareholders in the project include Norway's StatoilHydro ASA (STL.OS), France's Total SA (TOT), Russia's OAO Lukoil Holdings (LKOH.RS) and Azeri state oil firm Socar.