Southern Gas Corridor Offers Great Opportunities Beyond Its Region - French Institute For International And Strategic Affairs
Date
10/17/2022 2:07:22 AM
(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 17. The Southern Gas
Corridor offers great opportunities for the countries which are not
crossed by this pipeline, Francis Perrin, Senior Fellow at the
Policy Center for the New South (PCNS, Rabat) and at the French
Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS, Paris),
told .
'Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine the European Union
has launched a search for new sources of natural gas as the 27
member states have decided to get rid of Russian gas in a
medium-term horizon. Over the last months the EU has concluded
three agreements with gas exporting countries, one with the U.S.
(the largest gas-producing country in the world and a key liquefied
natural gas - LNG - exporter), another with Egypt and Israel
(Eastern Mediterranean) and the third one with Azerbaijan. Italy
signed a gas agreement with Algeria, Germany will import LNG from
Abu Dhabi and France is negotiating with Algeria for additional gas
supplies,' he said.
Perrin pointed out that the U.S. will export more LNG, Egypt and
Israel will also export more LNG and Azerbaijan will increase its
exports through the existing gasline network, the Southern Gas
Corridor (SGC), which links Azerbaijan to the EU through Georgia
and Turkey.
'The aim is to double to 20 billion cubic meters (bcm) per year
the capacity of the SGC by 2027. It is of course an important
target as the EU decided last spring to stop importing Russian gas
by 2027 approximately. Azerbaijan's gas supplies to the EU are
already on a rising trend. They reached 8.1 bcm in 2021 and should
amount to 12 bcm in 2022,' the expert added.
Perrin noted that the existence of the SGC offers interesting
opportunities for other countries than those which are directly
crossed by it.
'The last step of the SGC is the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP -
Greece/Albania/Adriatic Sea and Italy). Various connection options
are possible from these countries towards South-East European and
Central European countries. And Italy is part of an interconnected
gas network within the EU. These two elements strengthen the
strategic importance of the SGC for the EU in such an exceptional
period. TAP can also be used in a reverse flow mode, which means
that Italy could send gas to South-East Europe under certain
circumstances. And in the longer-term hydrogen could be transported
through TAP. The SGC is thus a strategic energy project for the EU
in a short-term, mid-term and long-term horizon,' he added.
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