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EU names SGC one of most ambitious projects

3 December 2015 12:48 (UTC+04:00)
EU names SGC one of most ambitious projects

By Aynur Karimova

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the most ambitious projects that is currently being built, Maroš Šefčovič, the Vice-President of the European Commission for Energy Union, said in an interview with EurActiv.

He noted that clearly the ambition of Azerbaijan is to supply both Turkey and Europe. Contracts have already been signed in this regard.

The giant Southern Gas Corridor project is progressing according to schedule, Šefčovič added.

"We are progressing quite well. We are thinking about having another advisory council meeting early next year. We started with this advisory council approach last year, because it opens the opportunity to have the business side of the project talking to the political representatives of the countries through which the SGC is routed, and overcome the issues," he stressed.

The Vice President of the European Commission also expressed confidence that Europe will receive the Caspian gas by 2020.

The Southern Gas Corridor project envisages the transportation of the gas extracted at the giant Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas will make a 3,500 kilometer journey from the Caspian Sea into Europe. This requires upgrading the existing infrastructure and the development of a chain of new pipelines.

The existing South Caucasus Pipeline will be expanded with a new parallel pipeline across Azerbaijan and Georgia, while the Trans-Anatolian pipeline will transport Shah Deniz gas across Turkey to meet the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, which will take gas through Greece and Albania into Italy.

The Southern Gas Corridor is set to change the energy map of the entire region, connecting gas supplies in the Caspian to markets in Europe for the very first time.

The first gas supplies through the corridor to Georgia and Turkey are given a target date of late 2018. Gas deliveries to Europe are expected just over a year after the first gas is produced offshore in Azerbaijan.

The Southern Gas Corridor pipeline system has been designed to be scalable to twice its initial capacity to accommodate additional gas supplies in the future.

SGC key project for Austria

Austria, the economy of which is by 80 percent dependent on imports of gas, has called the Southern Gas Corridor as a key project in the diversification of energy supplies of Europe.

“Azerbaijan intends to become an energy hub with different pipelines and energy resources coming not only from its fields, but also from Turkmenistan and maybe Iran,” Axel Wech, Austrian envoy to Baku told Trend on December 2.

The ambassador believes that Azerbaijan needs more highways and railways to be constructed to place itself into a position of a transit country.

He underlined that the Austrian side is keen on expanding business ties with Azerbaijan.

"There are plenty of opportunities for Austrian business in Azerbaijan in the fields of construction, agriculture, service sector and education," Wech said. "Austria is very strong in the above mentioned areas and we would like to share our experience with Azerbaijan."

Austrian companies had been involved in the construction of a new Carpet Museum, the Shahdag summer winter resort in Gusar, Azerbaijan, in some projects in the Old City of Baku.

"We would like to continue working in this area,” he added.

The ambassador also said that supporting of SMEs would be beneficial for Azerbaijani economy.

“We would like to work with smaller companies, they are usually more flexible and faster,” he noted.

Saying that the relations between the two countries are also developing in the culture, tourism and education fields, the diplomat also revealed Austria's plans to bring schooling system in the field tourism to Azerbaijan, to train cooks, service personal and hotel managers.

Wech stressed the necessity of wider promote Azerbaijan, an interesting destination for tourism, in European tourism markets.

“More promotion, facilitation of visa regime and more quality services would contribute to tourism development in Azerbaijan,” he said.

Diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Austria were established in February, 1992.

According to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to nearly $420 million in January-October 2015. Some $70 million of this amount accounted for import, while almost $350 million - export from Azerbaijan.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz

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