Azerbaijan looking forward to send its gas to European market
By Fatma Babayeva
Energy resource rich Azerbaijan is currently considering alternatives for sending Azerbaijan’s gas to Europe.
The statement was made by Elshad Nasirov, Vice-President of SOCAR during the panel meeting on Civil Society and Business: joint work for peace, security and sustainable development which held within the framework of VII Global Forum of UN Alliance of Civilizations in Baku.
Nasirov reminded that Azerbaijan is interested in the launch of the Southern Gas Corridor.
Azerbaijani gas will enter to the European market, and works are carried out in this direction, he said.
The SOCAR vice president further added that Azerbaijan is in the center of the international companies’ attention. These companies are interested in investing in the country. Azerbaijan offers all conditions for realizing it.
Moreover, oil revenues in Azerbaijan are mainly directed to the social projects, by including renovation and construction of new hospitals, schools and power facilities, he added.
Azerbaijan’s gas will be transported to Europe via the Southern Gas Corridor which is a planned infrastructure project.
The SGC aims to improve the energy security of the EU and diversity its energy supply routes by bringing natural gas from the Caspian region to Europe.
The project envisages the transportation of gas extracted at the giant Shah Deniz 2 field located in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea. The pipeline network will stretch across 3,500 kilometer area from the Caspian Sea into the Europe.
However, there is a need to upgrade existing infrastructure and develop a chain of new pipelines in order to achieve full implementation of the project.
Existing South Caucasus pipeline will be expanded with a new parallel pipeline through Azerbaijan and Georgia. Construction of Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic pipelines are main elements of this project.
TANAP will pass through Turkey and join to TAP pipeline in the Greece border. TAP will pass through Greece, Albania and southern part of Italy.
First gas delivery to Georgia and Turkey is scheduled for late 2018. Gas deliveries to Europe are expected a year after the first gas is produced in offshore fields of Azerbaijan.
The SGC is one of the biggest construction projects of our times with a value of $45 billion.
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Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva
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