(MENAFN- AzerNews) Nazrin Abdul, AZERNEWS
The "Solidarity Ring" (STRING) initiative is poised to boost theflow of natural gas from Azerbaijan to Europe, potentially reaching5 billion cubic meters annually, Azernews reportsciting foreign media.
Richard Kvasnovski, the executive director of the Slovak Gas andOil Association (SGOA), emphasized this prospect in an interviewwith the Slovak publication "Pravda." He highlighted how Europe'sreliance on Russian natural gas has diminished due to increasedimports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and Norwegian supplies.
Kvasnovski underscored Azerbaijan's potential as a significantalternative source, crucial for enhancing energy security,particularly given the historical ties of Central and EasternEuropean countries to Eastern gas pipelines. He emphasized theimportance of the "Ring of Solidarity" initiative, aimed ataugmenting natural gas imports from Azerbaijan through existinginfrastructure and bolstering cross-border relations.
"Azerbaijan can become another source. This would be animportant contribution to the improvement of energy security,especially considering the historical connection of Central andEastern European countries with the eastern gas pipelinesystem."
At the outset, Kvasnovski suggested that the region couldpurchase up to 5 billion cubic meters of natural gas fromAzerbaijan, aligning with Slovakia's annual consumption.
He highlighted Azerbaijan's pivotal role as an EU partner indiversifying natural gas supply, evidenced by the StrategicPartnership Memorandum with the European Commission, aiming toescalate Azerbaijani gas exports to 20 billion cubic metersyearly.
"It is planned to increase the supply of Azerbaijani gas to 20billion cubic meters per year."
It should be noted that Azerbaijan commenced gas exports toEurope on December 31, 2020, with agreements in place to ensure aminimum supply of 20 billion cubic meters annually until 2027, the Trans-Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP) is set toincrease its capacity by the end of 2025, allowing for thereception of an extra 1.2 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas and Albania are slated to benefit from this expansion.
Furthermore, the "Ring of Solidarity" project witnessed amilestone on April 25, 2023, in Sofia, with the signing of aMemorandum of Understanding between Azerbaijan State Oil Company(SOCAR) and the gas transmission lines of Bulgaria("Bulgartransgaz"), Romania ("Transgaz"), Hungary (FGSZ), andSlovakia ("Eustream"). This agreement outlines cooperative effortsbetween the transmission system operators and SOCAR to facilitateadditional gas deliveries from Azerbaijan to Europe via upgradedgas transmission networks in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, andSlovakia.
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