BP recently issued two press releases regarding future gas developments from existing oil and gas fields in the Caspian region.  According to Turkmen Forum experts, these plans strengthen the prospects for organizing the export of natural gas from Turkmenistan to the European direction.

 BP's first press release concerns the drilling of an appraisal well in Azerbaijan's main Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) oil field to collect data on the deep gas underlying the oil field being developed.  It is planned to drill to a depth of 4500 meters.

 The second press release reports on an exploration well in the Shah Deniz gas condensate field to better understand deep gas resources below existing gas horizons.  The depth of this well will be about 7000 meters.

 It is also noted that both of these wells will not lead to rapid gas production.  Even in case of success in finding gas and making an investment decision, the first gas from both the ACG depth and the Shah Deniz depth will be received in 4 or 5 years.

 At the same time, these statements show that Azerbaijan is serious about further development of cooperation.  This is good news for the expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor and gas supplies to Europe in the late 2020s.

 This is good news for Turkmenistan, Turkmen Forum notes, as Turkmen gas could play a positive role in boosting supplies, making the expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor even more worthwhile once joint development of the Dostluk field in partnership with Azerbaijan begins.