Hungary eyes to join Southern Gas Corridor
By Leman Mammadova
Hungary is interested in participating in the Southern Gas Corridor project.
Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov met with Hungarian delegation led by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó.
Parviz Shahbazov recalled that bilateral cooperation issues in the energy sphere was discussed at the meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary within the framework of the Russian Energy Week International Forum in Moscow last year, adding that current visit creates new opportunities.
Speaking about the current state of the Hungarian energy supply and gas demand, Péter Szijjártó spoke about plans for diversifying the gas market. He emphasized that Hungary is interested in joining the Southern Gas Corridor in the future.
The meeting highlighted the information on the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor, the prospects of expansion, the possibility of increasing the capacity at the next stage and the gas fields under development.
It was proposed to establish a relevant working group within the Intergovernmental Commission for the development of energy cooperation.
Other areas of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Hungary, as well as regional energy security issues were discussed at the meeting.
Both sides are interested in the development of cooperation in energy security.
Hungary regards Azerbaijan as a key partner in reference to ensuring Europe’s energy security.
Southern Gas Corridor project (SGC), which envisages transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas from the Caspian region to Europe, is important for Hungary in terms of diversification of energy sources. There is an efficient cooperation between Azerbaijan's SOCAR and Hungarian MOL oil companies.
One of the tasks is linking Hungary to the Southern Gas Corridor through interconnectors between the countries in Eastern Europe.
Hungary also joined AGRI (Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector) which would help diversify energy supply in the country.
AGRI project envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to the Black Sea coast of Georgia via gas pipelines. Azerbaijani gas delivered to Georgia's Black Sea coast will be liquefied at a special terminal and following this, it will be delivered in tankers to a terminal at the Romanian port of Constanta.
AGRI may be considered as additional supply route for the BRUA interconnector (which is expected to connect the natural gas transmission systems between Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria) currently under execution. Hungary and other countries, engaged in the BRUA project may take over some of the gas volumes that could be available through the Southern Corridor's infrastructure.
The participants of the AGRI project are SOCAR, Georgia's Oil and Gas Corporation, as well as MVM (Hungary) and Romgaz (Romania).
The Southern Gas Corridor, $ 40 billion worth project, envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey and Europe through the pipeline, which will be operated within the second stage of the Shah Deniz gas condensate field project in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.
Gas produced within Shah Deniz Stage 2 will be transported from the Caspian Sea to Europe, through Italy, Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Albania and the seabed of the Adriatic Sea.
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).
Perhaps this is one of the most ambitious projects in the world of oil and gas industry, as well as a complex target that involves a large number of different stakeholders - including seven governments and 11 companies.
On May 29, Baku hosted the launch of the first phase of the Southern Gas Corridor project, and on June 12, the opening ceremony of the TANAP took place in the Turkish province 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.
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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888
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