(MENAFN- AzerNews) By trend
The need for Azerbaijani gas in Europe, where there is currently
an acute energy crisis, is growing rapidly, trend reports.
As President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said on November 25 at
the international conference under the motto 'Along the Middle
Corridor: Geopolitics, Security and Economics', after the outbreak
of war between Russia and Ukraine, applications were received from
more than 10 European countries with a request to either increase
or start gas supplies. Today, gas exports from Azerbaijan amount to
approximately 22 billion cubic meters, more than 50 percent of
which is supplied to the European countries.
At the moment, Azerbaijani gas supplies are carried out under
already signed contracts, which indicate specific volumes. In order
to meet the growing demand in the market, it is necessary to
increase gas production, which is impossible without new
agreements. Azerbaijan has great potential to increase gas
production from such gas fields as Absheron, Umid, Babek, Asiman,
Shafag and others.
To expand the geography of Azerbaijani gas supplies, the
construction of additional pipelines is required, one of which is
the Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) that was commissioned on
October 1, 2022. Thanks to this pipeline, the wholesale price of
gas in Bulgaria fell by 34 percent at once. This is a clear example
of how gas supplies from Azerbaijan, in addition to satisfying
needs, increase competition in the market, thereby contributing to
lower prices, which is so important for the European consumer at
the moment.
The interconnector between Bulgaria and Serbia, which will allow
Serbia to get access to Azerbaijani gas, is scheduled to be
launched in 2023. The country already wants to sign a relevant
contract with Azerbaijan without waiting for the infrastructure to
be ready. Albania is also among the countries interested in
importing Azerbaijani gas, and, currently, is a transit country for
the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
Another important project in this regard is the Ionian-Adriatic
Pipeline (IAP), which, by connecting to TAP, should supply gas to
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Hungary, North
Macedonia, and other countries interested in getting access to
Azerbaijani gas, due to higher energy vulnerability.
However, the most important issue which needs to be resolved in
order to increase the supply of Azerbaijani gas to Europe is, of
course, the expansion of the capacity of the Southern Gas Corridor
(SGC).
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