NATURAL GAS

In Azerbaijan, the regime is liberalized in proportion to the quantities of gas that have to travel to Europe – there is an obvious correlation and it is positive. The country is valuable to Europe for five reasons. These are:

- natural gas;

- Azerbaijan's huge potential to produce green energy to be imported to Europe - Azerbaijan has the ability to produce wind energy around the clock;

Italy purchased natural gas worth 842 722 785 euros from Azerbaijan via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) in January 2023, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, told Trend.

Azerbaijan’s natural gas exports to Italy stood at 732 675 000 cubic meters last year, according to Eurostat.

Turkish BOTAS and Azerbaijani SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan) have established a new company to sell gas to Europe, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez said in an interview with CNN Turk, Trend reports.

“We have announced the goal of becoming a gas trading center, and Azerbaijan also supports us in this matter. The Balkan countries request gas from us and Azerbaijan. We’ll act on this issue together”, the minister said.

Natural gas in Bulgaria has fallen in price since April 1, , Trend reports citing the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission.

The Commission approved on Saturday the price of gas in April in the amount of 98.16 leva (about 49.8 euros) per 1 MWh without additional payments, while in March it was 106.74 leva ( about 53.37 euros).

Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania are preparing an agreement for gas supplies from Azerbaijan, Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, said, following the meeting of the ministers of the countries of Organization of Turkic States, Trend reports via Hungarian media.

According to the minister, an agreement has been reached to launch the supply of 100 million cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan to Hungary this year.

The new comprehensive agreement between the European Union and Azerbaijan will lay the ground for reinforced energy cooperation, notably on renewable energy, Miriam Garcia, European Commission spokesperson, told Trend.

"This agreement will play a key role in supporting the efforts of the Azerbaijani Government to diversify the economy," she said.

The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will allocate additional 1.2 billion cubic meters of gas from 2026, said Luca Schieppati, TAP Managing Director at the European Gas Conference, Trend reports.

“TAP recently triggered the first level of capacity expansion. The additional 1.2 bcm to be allocated from 2026 will be the initial phase of the process until capacity is reached to 20 bcm per year,” he said.

Four EU countries are setting up a working group for the project to boost Azerbaijani gas imports, Slovakian Ministry of Economy told Trend.

Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria have asked the European Commission to allocate funds for developing infrastructure to get additional natural gas from Azerbaijan. It is about developing the existing infrastructure, construction of new interconnectors and expanding the capacity of the existing ones.

Turkmenistan will send a batch of liquefied gas to Uzbekistan free of charge, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmen media.

According to the information, this order was signed by the President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov in order to support the neighboring country and further strengthen the partnership between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Azerbaijan will become an important green energy and hydrogen supplier to Europe in the near future, said Azerbaijan’s energy minister Parviz Shahbazov, Trend reports.

He was addressing the ministerial meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council held in Baku Feb.3.

Parviz Shahbazov said that the Green Energy Advisory Council, along with the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council, proves that along with natural gas, green energy is a priority for Azerbaijan.