Azerbaijan to export five billion cubic metres of gas to Europe

Executive Director of the Slovak Gas and Oil Association (SGOA) Richard Kvasňovský has said that Azerbaijan may supply five billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year to Europe within the Solidarity Ring (STRING) initiative at the initial stage.

“The dependence of European countries on Russian gas has greatly decreased recently thanks to the supply of liquefied natural gas and Norwegian gas,” Kvasňovský said in an interview with the Slovak “Pravda” newspaper, Caliber.Az reports.

“Thus, Azerbaijan can become another source country. This would be a significant contribution to improving energy security, especially for the Central and Eastern Europe, given their historical connection with the eastern gas pipeline system,” he noted.

He said that in this context, the Solidarity Ring initiative, which is aimed at increasing the volume of gas imports from Azerbaijan through the existing infrastructure in case of increasing the capacity of cross-border connections, is noteworthy.

“At the first stage, our region can receive up to five bcm of natural gas from Azerbaijan, which, for comparison, corresponds to the annual consumption of natural gas in Slovakia,” Kvasňovský added.