Offshore staff
ROME -- Eni is seeking an entrée into Azerbaijan’s upstream sector via the proposed CNG (compressed natural gas) project.
Earlier this week, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev met with Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni in Baku to discuss the program, which could lead to the transportation and transit of several billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas across the Caspian Sea to the coast of Azerbaijan. From there supplies would head through an overland pipeline to other destinations.
In recent months, Scaroni also has talked with representatives of the Russian, American, and EU governments concerning the project’s technical, financial, and commercial aspects.
This initiative, a first for the Caspian region, would also lead to a major reduction in gas flaring in Turkmenistan.
Eni says it is committed to applying CNG technology for maritime transport for projects which would otherwise not be feasible – due to distance or available volumes – using transport by pipeline or liquefied natural gas.
CNG allows transport of gas under high pressure but not liquefied by vessels equipped with special containment systems. Once delivered to its destination port, the decompressed gas can then be offloaded through conventional pipelines.
07/22/2010
