Baku, Azerbaijan, March 12
By Aygun Badalova - Trend:
The current and future role of Azerbaijan as an energy supplier and transit country was discussed during the "Cooperation in Energy and Beyond" international conference, PRNewswire agency's website said.
The conference was jointly organised by leading Belgian energy infrastructure specialist Fluxys and the European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS). Fluxys is one of the six shareholders in the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project, which is designed to transport Azerbaijani gas to the European markets. More than 120 specially invited diplomats, ministers, Belgian politicians and businesspeople attended the conference.
Marc Verwilghen, Director, TEAS Brussels, and former Belgian Energy Minister said during the conference that the creation of a pipeline system carrying Azerbaijani hydrocarbon resources to Europe, via Turkey, began a decade ago, breaking the Russian monopoly over the exporting of Caspian energy resources and providing Europe with an important source of diversification.
"It was timely to organise this event to remind Europe that the Southern Gas Corridor should be steered at the highest political level in Europe and Belgium, in addition to Azerbaijan. The importance of this strategy cannot be underestimated," Verwilghen said.
Didier Reynders, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs said that the massive TAP project will bring Azerbaijani gas to European markets, and change the energy landscape across the continent.
Azerbaijani Minister of Energy Natig Aliyev said that such successful EU-Azerbaijani energy projects as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil and Baku-Tbilisi- Erzurum (BTE) gas pipelines have already demonstrated the role of Azerbaijan in ensuring energy security.
"The joint EU-Azerbaijani declaration on the Southern Gas Corridor was signed in Baku in 2011, recognising Azerbaijan as a substantial contributor to and enabler of the Corridor, with a significant role in providing a new source of gas to Europe," Aliyev said.
According to Stephen Gallogly, Head of Europe, Middle East and Africa Division at the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that Azerbaijani hydrocarbon developments will impact European energy security, including that of Belgium.
"It is now the turn of natural gas to add another success to Azerbaijan's energy development. The Southern Gas Corridor will help diversify sources of energy for Europe, away from Russian dominance. Azerbaijan's contribution to the Southern Gas Corridor is essential," he said.
The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. The project is aimed at diversification of routes and sources of energy supply and thereby increase EU's energy security. It envisages the delivery of gas from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas and condensate field to Europe.
The gas to be produced as part of the second stage of the field's development will be exported to Turkey and European markets through the expansion of the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
The approximately 870 km long TAP will connect with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) near the Turkish-Greek border at Kipoi, cross Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea, before coming ashore in Southern Italy.
TAP's shareholding is comprised of BP (20 percent), SOCAR (20 percent), Statoil (20 percent), Fluxys (19 percent), Enagás (16 percent) and Axpo (five percent). Construction of TAP is planned to begin in 2016.