Azernews.Az

By Ayya Lmahamad

EU has been working tirelessly to diversify away from Russia towards other reliable suppliers, like for example, the United States or Norway, Azerbaijan, Algeria, and others, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, Azernews reports.

“We are facing an extraordinary situation, not only because Russia is an unreliable supplier, as we have witnessed over the last days, weeks, and months, but also because Russia is actively manipulating the gas market. I am deeply convinced that with our unity, our determination, and our solidarity, we will prevail. And we have, over the last six months, during this war, very much increased our preparedness and we have weakened the grip that Russia had on our economy and our continent. We have done three things, as you recall,” she said.

In this regard she noted that the first one was demand reduction, so saving gas in order to save it in the storage.

“We have created joint storage, and this is really a success story because now we are already at 82 percent with the joint storage in Europe. As you know, our goal was to reach 80 percent at the end of October. So we overshoot it, and that is good,” she said.

Furthermore, she stated that the second step that the EU has taken was the diversification of Russian fossil fuels. She recalled that the EU has stopped the import of Russian coal.

“We are winding down the Russian oil. And we have been working very hard to diversify away from Russia towards other reliable suppliers, like for example the United States or Norway, Azerbaijan, Algeria, and others. Actually today, Norway is delivering more gas to the European Union than Russia. And we were able if you look at the cuts that Russia has done in gas, to completely compensate so far the gas imports through other reliable suppliers,” she said.

Speaking about the third step, Ursula von der Leyen noted that this is a massive investment in renewables.

“We have REPowerEU on the table. The renewables are cheap, they are home-grown, and they make us independent. We will deploy renewables this year that is equivalent to around about 8 billion cubic meters. So the renewables are really our energy insurance for the future,” she said.

With the completion of the TAP (Trans-Adriatic Pipeline) construction on December 31, 2020, Azerbaijan began commercial gas supplies to Europe via the Southern Gas Corridor. The SGC is an initiative of the European Commission for a natural gas supply route from the Caspian and Middle Eastern regions to Europe. The route from Azerbaijan to Europe consists of the South Caucasus Pipeline, TANAP, and TAP.

Last year, TAP transported 8.1 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe. By late 2022, Azerbaijan plans to increase gas supplies to Europe to 9.1 billion cubic meters, and in 2023, the volume of gas supplies is expected to reach 11 billion cubic meters.

The EU and Azerbaijan are in active dialogue on increasing gas supplies amid the energy crisis. The EU-Azerbaijan energy cooperation has reached a new level and is still ongoing within the framework of the Southern Gas Corridor. The EU places a high value on energy supply diversification, and the Southern Gas Corridor is particularly important in this regard.

On July 18, Azerbaijan and the European Commission signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation in the energy sector. The document was signed by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad

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