Azerbaijan intends to increase gas supplies to Europe

Baku/31.05.23/Turan: Azerbaijan intends to expand the geography of gas supplies to Europe, taking into account the growing demand, for which it is necessary to resolve the relevant issues, the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated at the opening ceremony of the 28th International Exhibition "Oil and Gas of the Caspian Sea" and the 11th Caspian International Exhibition "Energy and Green Energy" - Caspian Power on Wednesday.

According to him, the geography of supplies will expand because the demand for Azerbaijani gas is growing. Over the past year and a half, more than 10 countries have asked Baku to increase or start gas supplies, Aliyev said. He added that much more should be done to increase gas supplies to Europe. It is necessary to expand the TANAP (up to 32 billion cubic meters) and TAP (up to 20 billion cubic meters) gas pipelines.

"We need unhindered access to other European pipeline systems, including the Trans-Balkan pipeline," Aliyev said. Thus, all these issues need to be solved jointly, as they require significant investments. "Therefore, of course, we can be sure that additional volumes of gas produced by us will find their consumers," Aliyev said.

Azerbaijan also plans to become a supplier of "green" energy produced from alternative sources in the medium term. "In the medium term, Azerbaijan is striving to become an exporter of electricity produced using alternative sources and "green energy" - hydrogen," he said.

Azerbaijan has a significant potential of alternative energy sources, in particular, 157 GW of wind energy in its sector of the Caspian Sea.

Referring to the project of laying an energy bridge to Europe (electric cables along the bottom of the Black Sea), Aliyev said that the volume of electricity supplies will be at least 4 GW.

The agreements and memoranda signed by Azerbaijan envisage the production of 25 GW of "green" energy." The development of alternative energy will allow Azerbaijan to reduce the use of gas and the country will be able to export the released volumes.

*On December 17, 2022, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary signed a strategic partnership agreement in Bucharest for the construction of a 1,000 MW Black Sea Energy underwater electric cable with a length of 1,195 km. The cable will be intended for the supply of "green" electricity produced in Azerbaijan through Georgia and the Black Sea to Romania for subsequent transportation to Hungary and the rest of Europe. ---06B---