Interview with Teodor Detchev Ph.D., associate professor at the Higher School of Security and Economics (HSSE) in the city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, head of the Laboratory on the Problems of the Black Sea and Caspian Region
How do you assess the level of Azerbaijani-Bulgarian relations?
Azerbaijan has exported 2.1 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe during the first two months of 2024, the country’s energy minister Parviz Shahbazov wrote on X, Trend reports.
„From January to February of this year, Azerbaijan exported 2.1 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe, 1.4 billion cubic meters to Türkiye, and 0.6 billion cubic meters to Georgia“, Shahbazov stated.
Greece has significantly increased its gas imports from Azerbaijan, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, told Trend.
June saw a notable surge in imports, with 174.6 million cubic meters received, compared to 163 million cubic meters in May, marking a 7.1 percent month-on-month increase.
Greece imported a total of 1.020 billion cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan between January and June 2023.
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.
Azerbaijan is becoming an increasingly important player in the European energy market.
This is what the former president of Serbia, Boris Tadic, said in an exclusive interview for Trend.az.
“Today, Azerbaijan is becoming a significantly more valuable energy partner. With the construction of TAP and TANAP, Azerbaijan will play a significantly more important role in the future”, Tadic said.
The contract on the swap of Turkmen gas to Azerbaijan through Iran is an important and a strategic step, Head of Vienna Energy Research Group in Austria Fereydoun Berkeshli told Shana News Agency, Trend reports.
According to him, if the contract is implemented and continued, it can create a roadmap for gas diplomacy in the region.
Azerbaijan and Turkey have reached an agreement for supply of additional 11 billion cubic meters of gas via the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline, said Turkey’s minister of energy and natural resources Fatih Dönmez.
Dönmez dismissed the allegations that Turkey buys gas expensively, noting BOTAS’ natural gas purchase price is in line with the current indicators in the international market and is below $1300 per 1,000 cubic meters.
Following the commencement of gas flows via TAP in December 2020, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG announces that a total of 1 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas from Azerbaijan has now entered Europe via the Greek interconnection point of Kipoi, where TAP connects to the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP), reports TAP AG.
The Southern Gas Corridor constitutes a new reality, stated Péter Szijjártó, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as saying.
“I congratulate everyone on the commencement of gas supply from the Shah Deniz field to the European Union through the Southern Gas Corridor pipeline system,” said Natia Turnava, Georgia’s Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, reports 1tv.ge .
According to her, the project is crucial for strengthening Georgia’s energy independence.
