Turkey represents the largest market for natural gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field in the Caspian, where Statoil has a 25.5% share and is the commercial operator for Stage I.

Gas from the Shah Deniz-field has been delivered to Turkey since 2007. The volumes are transported through South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP). The gas pipeline is 690 kilometres long and follows the same route as the Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline as far as the border between Georgia and Turkey.

The Turkish company Botas, buyer of the gas in Turkey, takes over transport responsibility at the Turkish border. A new pipeline has been constructed as far as the city of Erzurum, linking in with the existing Turkish gas grid.

Turkey’s total gas imports is 38 bcm/per annum (2008), where imports from Shah Deniz Stage I account for ca 17% of volumes at plateau. The growing Turkish gas market that has more than doubled in the last decade is expected to reach maturity around 70 bcm over the next 10-20 years.

Statoil established an office in Istanbul in 2001.