Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The Southern Corridor project envisages the provision of not only energy but also the general security of the region, spokesman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Elman Abdullayev said at the conference "Southern Energy Corridor - the geopolitical change of the game", the Azerbaijani embassy in the U.S. reported on Thursday.

The Southern Gas Corridor, which is one of the EU's priority energy projects, aims at diversifying the routes and sources of energy supply, thereby increasing secure delivery.

In his speech at the conference held in the research center of the Brookings Institute in the U.S., Abdullayev said that the issue of maintenance of security in the region is the biggest problem facing the country since gaining independence and Azerbaijan always aims at the achievement of stability in the region.

According to Abdullayev, implementation of the Trans Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) project, which is the most important component of the Southern Corridor project, is the result of wise policy of Azerbaijani and Turkish leadership as the uncertainty of the European Union in this issue prompted the leaders of both countries to make a final decision for the implementation of the project with joint efforts.

TANAP project envisages construction of the pipeline from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border to supply gas from Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas field via Georgia to Turkey and on to Europe. The initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to be 16 billion cubic meters of gas a year. About six billion cubic meters will be delivered to Turkey, and the rest - to Europe.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum and Baku-Tbilisi-Kars projects have been implemented despite all difficulties, he stressed.

The Baku-Тbilisi-Сeyhan`s total length is 1,768 kilometers including a 443-kilometre section running via Azerbaijan, a 249-kilometre section traversing Georgia and a 1,076-kilometre section passing through Turkey. The pipeline's construction began in April 2003. First oil was marketed on May 18, 2005.

The length of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum Gas Pipeline exceeds 700 kilometers. It transports the gas produced from the Shah Deniz gas condensate field located in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea and supplied to Georgia and Turkey. In 2012, daily output capacity of the pipeline reached 11.1 million cubic meters of gas or 68,000 barrels in oil equivalent.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars regional railway is being built in accordance with an inter-governmental agreement reached by Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. The railway will increase the flow of containers and other types of cargo from Asia to Europe. Its throughput capacity will peak at 17 million tons of cargo per year. Initially, the capacity will be 6.5 million tons of consignments and 1 million passengers.

Azerbaijan has allocated a loan worth $775 million for the construction of the Georgian section of the railway. Funding for the project from the State Oil Fund is carried out in accord with the 2007 presidential decree on taking measures within the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project.

The diversification is the factor of the maintenance of the energy security of the South Caucasus and a stable future of the region, Abdullayev believes.

Abdullayev also said that Azerbaijan intends to attract all the countries of the region to this process and openly stated to Armenia about its lost opportunities due to the expansionist policy.

The implementation of the large scale projects in the region once more confirms that Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey are reliable partners, Abdullayev added.