Azerbaijani gas can ensure energy diversification in Central-Eastern Europe - EU

Potentially, Azerbaijani gas can play a role in increasing the security of supply and energy diversification in the Central and Eastern European region, an EU official told Trend.

"Four EU natural gas transmission system operators (TSOs) from Central-Eastern and South-Eastern Europe recently presented the Solidarity Ring project together with Azerbaijan’s national oil and gas company, SOCAR. Various infrastructure investments related to the Solidarity Ring initiative are on the fifth Union list of projects of common interest. However, it is too early to comment on the viability of the project," said the EU representative.

The official noted that the path of energy cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan has been set in the new strategic partnership in the field of energy adopted by President von der Leyen and President Ilham Aliyev in Baku last summer.

"On the one hand, our cooperation is about the important role Azerbaijan is playing and will play in our diversification away from Russian fuels, notably through the expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor. On the other hand, our partnership is based on a shared clean energy transition agenda, with action in the fields of energy efficiency, renewable power, renewable hydrogen, and fugitive emissions of methane," said the EU official.

The EU representative noted that the bilateral partnership is based on a comprehensive and coherent agenda, underpinned by our commitment to achieve net-zero economies by 2050.

"Commissioner Simson and Minister Shahbazov held an energy dialogue just a couple of weeks ago, where they reiterated their commitment to deliver on this agenda," said the official.

Azerbaijan started gas supplies to Europe via the Southern Gas Corridor on December 31, 2020. The pipeline’s capacity is 10 billion cubic meters, with the possibility of expanding to 20 billion cubic meters. Azerbaijan and EU inked a memorandum of understanding in July 2022 to double the capacity of the Southern Gas Corridor by 2027.