Azerbaijan ready to expand gas supplies across Europe, says President Aliyev

Baku is currently hosting the 11th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and the 3rd Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting at the Gulustan Palace, where President Ilham Aliyev delivered a powerful address on energy security and Azerbaijan's pivotal role in the global energy landscape.

"Today energy security is an integral part of national security of countries. We can talk also about industrial security," President Aliyev remarked as he opened the meetings, Caliber.Az reports, citing local media.

"Because in order to develop industries, we need energy resources, petrochemicals, fertilizers. Azerbaijan is a producer and exporter of crude oil, natural gas, oil products, petrochemicals, and fertilizers," he noted.

He further emphasized Azerbaijan's significant contributions to the global energy market, saying, "Today, Azerbaijan supplies natural gas to 12 countries. Ten of them are in Europe, and eight are European Union members."

Looking to the future, the president highlighted the growing role of Azerbaijan in Europe's energy sector: "The geography of our gas supply in Europe will definitely grow because today we are already involved in creation of gas distribution network of some European countries. Some of them do not have it. Some of them need to expand it. Azerbaijan as investor is planning to do it. So, geography of our gas supplies definitely will grow."

President Aliyev also underscored the success of the Southern Gas Corridor, stating, "The Southern Gas Corridor works at full capacity. Whether it's South Caucasus Pipeline, TANAP and TAP, three integral parts of Southern Gas Corridor fully packed."

Looking ahead, he stressed the need for expansion: "Now they work at full capacity. So we need to expand. For that, we will need, of course, financing. We come to a very important point, which we raised on several occasions that international financial institutions, which decided to stop financing fossil fuel projects, probably, will reconsider their policy."

"Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli, Shahdeniz, and Absheron provide energy security for many countries," the head of state noted.

"Many more oil and gas fields will become operational within several years. Contracts have been signed, and the working program has been approved. The construction of pipelines – such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Jeyhan and Baku-Supsa oil pipelines, and the Southern Gas Corridor - was carried out in cooperation, as I said, by all the actors," the Azerbaijani leader added.

“We must be sure that our gas will be needed in Europe, which is our main market for many more years,” said the President.

The head of state added, “Without this guarantee, investors will not invest, and the country will not invest. So, there'll be a big shortage of natural gas. Our reserves are known. We expect new production from new fields this year.”

“We can imagine that Azerbaijan will play an even more important role for our partners with respect to energy security,” President Aliyev continued.

Noting that there are already signed agreements with the investors, the head of state emphasized: “Contracts with our investors on solar and wind power stations will allow us to have 6 GW of solar and wind energy by 2030. As I said, that will save a lot of natural gas which we currently use to produce electricity domestically, and all of that will all be available for export. We are actively developing this sector with our own investments. There is also hydropower potential today in the territories of East Zangezur and Karabakh, which were liberated from Armenian occupation.”

With this, President Aliyev made it clear that Azerbaijan is not just a key player in the energy sector today, but is poised to significantly shape the future of energy security in Europe and beyond.

By Tamilla Hasanova