Azernews.Az

By Leman Mammadova

Ministry of Energy held a meeting with a delegation led by head of the Italian delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Deputy Head of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament Paolo Grimoldi.

Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov noted the important role of energy cooperation within multilateral cooperation relations between the two countries. The minister stressed that Italy is one of the main buyers of Azerbaijani oil and Azerbaijan will also supply gas to this country through the Southern Gas Corridor.

Shahbazov appreciated Italy’s position on the implementation of TAP, which is part of the Southern Gas Corridor.

The minister emphasized that the TAP project will not only serve as the new source of gas for Italy, but it will also help to shape affordable price formation for consumers of the natural gas and contribute to the goal of decarbonization.

Paolo Grimoldi appraised the TAP pipeline as a project that meets the interests of both countries. He noted that TAP will provide not only development of economic relations but also political.

“Italy is interested in investing in energy and technology fields in Azerbaijan and developing cooperation in these areas,” head of the Italian delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly further added.

During the conversation, the involvement of Italian companies in other sectors was also in spotlight, and the sides continued exchange of their views on cooperation within the framework of the Intergovernmental Commission.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority projects for the EU and envisages the transportation of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region through Georgia and Turkey to Europe.

The Southern Gas Corridor consists of four projects: Shah Deniz 2, Expansion of South Caucasus Pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum), the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

The launching ceremony of the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor was held in Baku on May 29, 2018, while opening ceremony of TANAP was held on June 12, 2018 in the Turkish city of Eskisehir.

Thus, the first gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field has already gone through the first segment of the Southern Gas Corridor - from the Sangachal terminal to the expanded South Caucasus Pipeline.

Estimated at 4.5 billion euros, TAP is a part of Southern Gas Corridor project, that envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijani Shah Deniz-2 gas field to Greece and southern Italy across the Adriatic Sea through Greece and Albania, and involves designing, construction and operation of the natural gas pipeline.

The Intergovernmental Agreement on the TAP project was signed by Albania, Italy and Greece in February 2013. The 878-kilometer-long TAP pipeline (Greece 550 kilometers, Albania 215 kilometers, Adriatic Sea 105 kilometers, and Italy 8 kilometers) having connected to the TANAP on the Turkish-Greek border, will run through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Italy’s south.

The initial capacity of TAP will be 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year with the possibility of doubling it.

TAP shareholders include BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Snam S.p.A. (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagas (16 percent) and Axpo (5 percent).

The TAP project is one of the strategic objectives of the EU in the energy security and diversification of energy sources, chosen as the shortest and direct way to export natural gas from Azerbaijan to the European markets.

Italy is a reliable partner of Azerbaijan in Europe with whom bilateral beneficial cooperation exists in all areas. Both states enjoy high level of economic cooperation and intend to intensify ties as the relations in the economic sphere bring real benefits to both sides.

Azerbaijan and Italy are strategic partners in the energy sector.

Since 1995 ENI Italian company has been involved in several projects on the operation of oil and gas fields in Azerbaijan, which laid the foundation for economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Italy

Italy has begun to receive a large part of Azerbaijani oil exported through the Baku - Supsa pipeline since 1999 and then through the Baku - Jeyhan. This made Italy the number one partner for Azerbaijan and this position is maintained until today.

Italy is an important economic and trade partner of Azerbaijan. Italy accounts for about 20 percent of our trade turnover with foreign countries. The trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $6.2 billion in 2018. In total, the investments of Italian companies in Azerbaijan have amounted to about $530 million, and the volume of Azerbaijani investments in Italy is estimated at $135 million.

Presently, Azerbaijan and Italy are preparing a new agreement on the promotion and protection of investments between Azerbaijan and Italy, on a joint action plan, envisaging the expansion of cooperation in various sectors of the economy.

Two countries have great potential for expanding economic relations, in particular in such areas as energy, agriculture, industry, trade, investment, transport, environment.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

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