Azernews.Az

By Akbar Mammadov

Thanks to the high level of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the U.S, the Southern Gas Corridor will be fully completed in Autumn of 2020, Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov said on February 27.

“I thank the United States for its support to both Southern Gas Corridor and all global and regional energy projects implemented upon Azerbaijan’s initiatives” Shahbazov said during the meeting with Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Diplomacy Kurt Donnelly, who is visiting Baku to attend the sixth Ministerial Meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Board on February 27.

He also highly appreciated US’s continuous support in the Southern Gas Corridor that is nearing completion.

Parviz Shahbazov spoke about Azerbaijan's development indicators, diversification projects, expansion perspectives, the improvement of the country’s gas resources.

Kurt Donnelly dubbed the Southern Gas Corridor an important project in energy security.

The sides also discussed the expansion of Southern Gas Corridor by Balkans, IAP project (Ion-Adriatic Pipeline) and other potential opportunities.

In the meantime, Azerbaijan Energy Minister also received the delegation led by Nikulae Havrilet, the Deputy Minister of Economics, Energy and Business Environment of Romania.

Romania’s “TRANSGAZ S.A” and “ROMGAZ S.A” representatives participated in the meeting.

The meeting covered cooperation relations with Romania on the area of trading crude oil, oil products and petrochemicals products, and the opportunities in the energy sector that have emerged thanks to Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Board.

Romanian Energy Minister expressed his country’s interest in taking part in this project in the future. Nikulae Havrilet also shared his opinions about the possibility of using opportunities of Bulgaria-Romania interconnection and BRUA project in the expansion of the corridor by Central Europe in the future.

The Southern Gas Corridor is an initiative of the European Commission for a natural gas supply route from Caspian and Middle Eastern regions to Europe. The goal of the Southern Gas Corridor is to reduce Europe's dependency on Russian gas and add diverse sources of energy supply. The route from Azerbaijan to Europe consists of the South Caucasus Pipeline, the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline, and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline. The total investment of this route is estimated at US$45 billion. The main supply source would be the Shah Deniz gas field, located in the Caspian Sea.

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