Bulgaria names Azerbaijan key factor in SGC realization
By Trend
The Southern Gas Corridor is a project of strategic importance
for the entire region of South-East Europe, the newly-appointed
Energy Minister of Bulgaria Nikolay Pavlov said in an exclusive
interview with Trend.
"Ensuring security of gas supply is one of the key priorities of
the European Energy Union. Bulgaria and the EU are actively working
on the diversification of sources and routes of gas supplies, which
will ensure the implementation of this priority," said the
minister.
"In this regard, the Southern Gas Corridor is a project of
strategic importance for both Bulgaria and the entire region of
South-East Europe that will provide energy security for the
EU."
Pavlov pointed out that Bulgaria has supported this project since
its initiation.
Azerbaijan is not only a major gas source, but also a key factor
enabling the realization of the Southern Gas Corridor, added the
minister.
"I must underline that Bulgaria and Azerbaijan enjoy excellent
partnership, especially in the energy field. An expression of this
partnership is the contract concluded between Bulgargaz and
Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR for supply of 1 billion cubic
meters of natural gas per year from Shah Deniz 2. This gas will be
delivered through the Southern Gas Corridor, namely: the
South-Caucasus Pipeline, Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline
(TANAP), Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and the Interconnector
Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) to our country," said Pavlov.
The minister also talked about Bulgaria’s expectations from the
upcoming meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council to
be held in Baku, Feb.23.
At the forthcoming meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory
Council, Bulgaria expects the countries involved in the project to
inform about their progress regarding the above-mentioned projects,
i.e. the development of the second phase of Shah Deniz, the
expansion of the South-Caucasus Pipeline (SCPx), the construction
of TANAP and the ongoing activities related to TAP, said
Pavlov.
"On the Bulgarian side, we are going to present the significant
progress in the IGB and the development of other Bulgarian
interconnectors: the commissioning of the interconnector
Bulgaria-Romania (IBR) at the end of 2016, the interconnector
Turkey-Bulgaria (ITB) and the interconnector Bulgaria- Serbia
(IBS)," he added.
The SGC Advisory Council held its first meeting on Feb. 12, 2015,
and the second meeting on Feb. 29, 2016.
The Southern Gas Corridor envisages transportation of 10 billion
cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region to Europe
via Georgia and Turkey.
The gas will be exported through expansion of the South Caucasus
Pipeline and the construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas
Pipeline and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Here we are to serve you with news right now. It does not cost much, but worth your attention.
Choose to support open, independent, quality journalism and subscribe on a monthly basis.
By subscribing to our online newspaper, you can have full digital access to all news, analysis, and much more.
You can also follow AzerNEWS on Twitter @AzerNewsAz or Facebook @AzerNewsNewspaper
Thank you!