Total confirms big gas find in Azerbaijan Total, the French oil group, confirmed it had discovered huge reserves of natural gas in the Caspian Sea, underscoring Azerbaijan's status as a potentially key source of future gas supplies to Europe. Total said well results at its Absheron discovery offshore Azerbaijan indicated gas resources of 150bn to 300bn cubic metres, or 5tn-10tn cubic feet. The upper end of the estimate is nearly four times the UK's annual gas consumption. In a statement, Total said it had submitted a "notice of discovery and commerciality" last month on behalf of the partnership behind the Absheron find, which was first announced in September last year. Total is operator with a 40 per cent stake, alongside Socar, Azerbaijan's state oil company, and GDF Suez, the French utility. Yves-Louis Darricarrère, Total's head of exploration and production, said the declaration of commerciality marked an "important step in our activities as operator in Azerbaijan." The company said it would carry out seismic tests at the field next year and drill more appraisal wells to better assess the extent of the structure. Absheron is located about 100km south-east of the Azeri capital Baku and is close to the much larger, BP-operated Shah Deniz field, which is estimated to contain 1.2tn cubic metres of gas and in which Total is also a partner. Shah Deniz is due to start producing gas in 2017, at a rate of 16 bcm a year - with 10 bcm/y going to Europe and the rest to Turkey. Socar and Turkey's Botas recently agreed plans for a new Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (Tanap) that would bring Shah Deniz's gas across Turkey into Europe. It is still unclear where the gas carried by Tanap will end up. There are two rival projects to bring it to European markets - one, TAP, would go to Italy, while Nabucco West would bring it to south-eastern and central Europe. BP and its partners will choose between the two routes early next year. But Shah Deniz could be just the start. In 2010, Socar announced a major gas find in its offshore Umid field, which it says has proven reserves of 200 bcm. In addition, a thick layer of gas underneath the massive BP-operated ACG oilfield, also in the Caspian, could contain as much as 300 bcm, according to Socar. John Roberts, a Caspian expert, said Total's Absheron, combined with the gas from Umid and ACG, could significantly increase Azerbaijan's export potential. "This bolsters the case for a large-scale pipeline system that could carry more than the 16 bcm/y [Azerbaijan has] pledged to Europe and Turkey," said Mr Roberts. He said the finds would also encourage Azerbaijan to create its own rig-building industry to speed up the development of its gasfields. Without new rigs, he said, Total would not be able to develop Absheron until 2020, by which time Shah Deniz will be in full production. Shares in Total were up 1.25 per cent at €35.95 in Paris trading.