Italian company interested in Azerbaijan's energy market
By Nigar Abbasova
Energy-rich Azerbaijan, which plays an important role in ensuring energy security both at regional and international scale, continues to attract interest of the leading energy companies.
Italy’s Tenaris Global Services, a leading supplier of tubes and related services for the world’s energy industry, expressed its interest in the energy sector of Azerbaijan.
CEO of the company Paolo Rocca, during his meeting with Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister Natig Aliyev, said that the company is ready to render its services in Azerbaijan and benefit from opportunities stipulated by the energy cooperation and joint projects being implemented by Italy and Azerbaijan.
Aliyev, in turn, said despite the decline in oil prices the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) project is being implemented without delays and gas will be delivered to Europe via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) in 2020.
He underlined that the TAP project is supported by the Italian government while timely implementation of the project is equally important for all parties.
TAP, which is a part of the Southern Gas Corridor, one of the priority energy projects for the EU, envisages transportation of gas from the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas and condensate field to the EU countries.
The 870-kilometer pipeline will be connected to the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) on the Turkish-Greek border, run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy's south. Once built, TAP will offer a direct and cost-effective transportation route. Moreover, TAP's initial capacity of 10 bcm of gas per year is equivalent to the energy consumption of approximately seven million households in Europe, the fact is considered to be an indication of the future increase in energy security of a whole Europe, including Italy.
Aliyev also spoke about the reforms and measures conducted for the development of the non-oil sector in Azerbaijan. The minister highlighted that favorable conditions for investments were created in the country.
Azerbaijan and Italy enjoy broad ties in the business sphere, while the southern European country ranked first in the list of Azerbaijan's foreign trade partners in the first quarter of 2016, with trade turnover of $462.44 million.
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Nigar Abbasova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @nigyar_abbasova
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