BP: Supplies of additional gas from Azerbaijan to Europe take region to whole new level

BP's Vice President for Communications and External Relations for the Caspian Region, Bakhtiyar Aslanbeyli has said that the extra gas supplies to Europe take the region where Azerbaijan is located to a whole new level, which is a very important factor.

He made the statement at the opening of the 16th Baku Summer Energy School at the ADA University, Report says.

Aslanbeyli said that BP had fruitfully cooperated with Azerbaijan for 30 years: "The company has implemented a number of major projects in the country, including attention to social, educational and environmental projects."

According to him, the program of the Baku Summer Energy School is very rich and will be attended by various speakers and experts. It will be interesting and useful for participants.

Earlier today European Commission's head Ursula von der Leyen and EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson will visit Baku, where they will discuss with the Azerbaijani authorities additional gas supplies to Europe. It is expected that within the framework of the visit the agreement to increase of Azerbaijan's gas imports to Europe and support for the expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor will be signed.

According to the agreement text the parties aim to maintain bilateral trade in natural gas, including exports to the European Union via the Southern Gas Corridor, in the amount of at least 20 billion cubic meters of gas annually by 2027 in line with commercial feasibility and market demand. And this will entail significant investments in the expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor pipeline network.

The draft states that the EU and Azerbaijan will also study the development of power interconnections to promote renewable energy sources and discuss future hydrogen trade.

It should be noted that the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), transporting Azerbaijani natural gas to Europe, has reached its maximum capacity in the past few days. We are talking about deliveries of natural gas in the amount of 33 million cubic meters per day, which makes about 12 billion cubic meters of gas per year on average. A total of 10.5 billion cubic meters of these volumes will be transported to Italy. The long-term goal is to double the pipeline's capacity.

Construction of the TAP was completed in October 2020. The total length of the TAP is 878 kilometers, of which 550 kilometers run through northern Greece, 215 kilometers through Albania, 105 kilometers through the Adriatic Sea and 8 kilometers through Italy.

TAP AG consortium is considering three scenarios to increase the pipeline's capacity: limited - to 14.4 billion cubic meters, partial - to 17.1 billion cubic meters, and full - up to 20 billion cubic meters per year.

Deliveries of Azerbaijani gas to consumers in Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria through TAP began on December 31, 2020.