SOUTHERN GAS CORRIDOR

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.

Amid global economic instability, Azerbaijan’s mitigating role in energy crisis is rapidly increasing. With Azerbaijan and the EU agreeing on doubling the supplies of Azerbaijani gas by 2027, the country’s gas exports to Europe are expected to be 20 bcm, while this year at least 11.6 bcm is planned to be supplied. Moreover, Azerbaijan’s total gas exports this year are expected at 24 bcm.

Around 4.875 million megawatt hours were transported through the Greece-Bulgaria gas pipeline (IGB) for the period October 1 - December 31, 2022, the ICGB, the pipeline operator, told Trend.

“In December, just months after the pipeline entered commercial operation, IGB’s capacity reached over 94 percent booking rate. By the end of 2022, there are 11 registered users of the interconnector,” said the company.

The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) has saved Italy from deindustrialization, Matteo Villa, Head of the Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) DataLab, said, Trend reports.

"For Italy, 2022 was an important year in terms of diversification. We have the TAP, which, in 2021, saved us all. We have worked as much as possible to keep close to suppliers such as Algeria, and Azerbaijan as well as diversifying," he said.

Prof. Teodor Detchev, Higher School of Security and Economics, head of "Blacksea Caspia" in "The World is Business", 04.01.2023

US is exploring potential ways to support bringing Turkmen gas to Azerbaijan, said the US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried, Trend reports.

She made the remarks at the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Energy, the Environment and Cyber on “U.S. Policy Towards the Caucasus”.

Today, December 14, 2022, the highest-level meeting "Azerbaijan - Turkey - Turkmenistan" will take place in the Turkmen city of Avaza. Within the framework of the meeting at the highest level, it is planned to discuss the steps to further deepen the cooperation between the three countries in the spheres of trade, energy and transport.

Representatives of ICGB AD (Bulgaria), Bulgartransgaz EAD (Bulgaria), DESFA S.A. (Greece), Gastrade S.A. (Greece), FGSZ LTD (Hungary) and SNTGN TRANSGAZ S.A. (Romania) signed the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding on the implementation of the Vertical Gas Corridor. The meeting took place in Athens, Greece.

The independent transmission operator ICGB, which operates the Greece-Bulgaria commercial interconnector, has entered into a natural gas transmission contract with the American company Linden Energy LLC. The agreement is for a period of 20 years.

Linden Energy LLC is a US-based company with strategic interests in the regional natural gas market. The company recently finalized an equity stake in one of Bulgaria's largest natural gas suppliers (“Overgas”) and announced plans to build a regasification facility in Albania.

Procedures for commissioning the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector on October 1 are progressing according to schedule. The implementation of the project is in the final stage of realization and administrative procedures for issuing the relevant licenses for exploitation and right of use are running in parallel in both countries.