bp: Azerbaijan has every opportunity to get ahead

Azerbaijan has great potential for renewable energy sources (RES).

Trinidad and Tobago bp Vice President for Subsoil Use Christopher Mair said in his speech at the SPE Caspian Technical Conference in Baku, Trend reports.

"There are a few points I would like to highlight. One of them is that, in my view, hydrocarbons have always had to have the lowest cost of development and production. And I think now there is a third component to that: the cost of hydrocarbons should be as low as possible. So, we want to have hydrocarbons that are delivered and brought to the surface by energy, ideally so that they themselves have a low carbon footprint. So, in the gas sector, we would probably prefer pipeline gas to LNG gas, where energy-intensive liquefaction processes have to be carried out to get the LNG product. Therefore, pipeline gas is preferable to LNG, and probably if you extend this to the oil space, in a general sense, we will probably prefer conventional oil over, say, tar sands oil, hydrocarbons with low rather than high utilization rates," Mair said.

In his opinion, the Caspian is different from the transition to production based on renewable energy sources and the availability of hydrocarbons with low intensity of use, and in both areas, the Caspian is really well positioned.

"So, there is already a phenomenal export infrastructure here that brings oil and gas to the West, to the Turkish, European, and global markets. So, there is an infrastructure that can be utilized and that can be a conduit for lower-priced hydrocarbons in the future. And the second point is that if you look at energy density maps and renewable energy density maps, Azerbaijan has excellent potential," Christopher Mair emphasized.

He noted that the wind energy density on the Absheron Peninsula offshore is about 9,000-kilowatt hours per square meter, which is broadly comparable to the one in the southern North Sea, in Europe, and even off the east coast of the United States. There are already significant wind farms, and even more are under development. So, in terms of wind power, there is something equivalent in the north of the Absheron Peninsula.

"Similarly, in terms of solar energy, the solar density here is about 1,500 to 2,000 kilowatt hours per square meter, which, again, is not dissimilar to what is seen in much of northern Türkiye and northern Spain. In both of those cases, there are ongoing investments in large-scale solar projects. So, I think the Caspian region, and Azerbaijan in particular, is well positioned to pull ahead and continue to supply renewable hydrocarbons as well as low-intensity hydrocarbons - piped gas and conventional oil," he added.

Mair noted that electrification of existing hydrocarbon production infrastructure is critical.

"First, I think it's going to provide electricity to our existing asset base through more carbon-efficient grid energy sources as opposed to off-grid, custom-built energy centers. And secondly, with electrification, looking a little bit ahead and perhaps as we realize some of these green renewable opportunities, it will allow us to subsequently displace fossil electricity from the grid with renewable energy and provide zero-carbon hydrocarbons," he concluded.