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2024-04-11 10:00:12
Azerbaijan intends to send an additional 5 billion cubic meters of gas through the Solidarity Ring to the Balkan countries.
As Day.Az reported on Thursday, Deputy Vice-President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) Vitaly Beglyarbekov said this at the Budapest summit on liquefied natural gas (LNG).
He mentioned that Azerbaijan intends to increase gas exports to Europe by about 17 percent compared to current levels by 2026.
“We are expanding [производственные и экспортные мощности] now, and the results of this should be ready by 2026, when we will further increase our supplies to Italy, Greece and Bulgaria,” said SOCAR Deputy Vice President.
The country plans to export about 14 billion cubic meters of gas to southeastern European countries in two years, up from 12 billion cubic meters last year, he said.
He explained that the growth will be driven by increased production and expansion of the capacity of the three transit pipelines that make up the Southern Gas Corridor.
“But a further increase in the supply of Azerbaijani gas to Europe will largely depend on the needs of the region and its willingness to invest in new infrastructure. For example, we intend to send an additional 5 billion cubic meters of gas through the Solidarity Ring to the Balkan countries. Similar volumes can be additionally supplied via the Southern gas corridor to Italy, Greece and their neighbors. This is what we can produce and supply. I cannot say that it will all happen at the same time or that it will all happen in the same year – it all depends on when it is ready infrastructure and when our Upstream will be ready,” Beglyarbekov noted.
He emphasized that certain projects depend not on SOCAR, but on European clients.
“Decisions in Europe should be made by Europeans. We are interested in increasing supplies, but it is extremely important to have infrastructure,” he said, adding that Europe will remain Azerbaijan’s main market for many years to come.
It should be noted that Azerbaijan began gas supplies to Europe via the Southern Gas Corridor on December 31, 2020. The initial capacity of the European part of the corridor (TAP) is 10 billion cubic meters of gas. In July 2022, Azerbaijan and the EU signed a memorandum that provides for increasing the capacity of this infrastructure to 20 billion cubic meters per year by 2027.
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