Azerbaijan's 1H Gas Exports From Shah Deniz I Fall 3.9% YOY

BAKU, July 16 (Reuters) - Exports from the first stage of Azerbaijan's giant Shah Deniz gas field stood at 3.654 billion cubic metres (bcm) in the first half of this year, down 3.9 percent from a year earlier, the State Statistics Committee said on Monday.

Gas from Shah Deniz I is exported through the South Caucasus pipeline.

Export volumes from Shah Deniz I operated by an international consortium led by BP were 7.314 bcm in 2017.

Azerbaijan's gas exports through all pipelines totalled 11.588 bcm in January-June this year.

The European Union is trying to reduce its dependence on Russian gas by developing the so-called Southern Gas Corridor, which is expected to bring about 16 bcm of gas a year to Europe by 2020.

The gas would come from the Shah Deniz II field via the 1,850 km (1,150 mile) Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) through Turkey, the South Caucasus pipeline extension through Azerbaijan and Georgia and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) to Greece, Albania and Italy.

(Reporting by Nailia Bagirova; writing by Margarita Antidze; editing by Jason Neely)