BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 26. Azerbaijan's gas production will sustain small but positive growth until 2050, Trend reports via the "Azerbaijan. Country Economic Memorandum" publication from the World Bank (WB).
"The opening up of new markets as a result of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) increases and diversifies the potential market for Azerbaijan’s gas exports, as well as its customer base, and there is the potential for further extensions of the pipeline into the West Balkans," the report said.
According to the WB, in addition, Europe's gas production has declined by around 4 percent per year on average over the past decade, due to production drop from mature fields.
"While natural gas demand is not expected to grow as quickly in Europe as in other regions, such as Asia, Europe’s imports of natural gas may still increase as a result of declining domestic production," the report noted.
However, as the WB pointed out, liquified natural gas (LNG) poses a potential risk for the Azerbaijani gas sector.
"As global LNG capacity continues to increase, Azerbaijan natural gas exports will increasingly compete with LNG, and greater competition may lead to lower prices than otherwise. As an example, in 2020, Turkey increased its purchases of lower-cost LNG on the spot market by 50 percent, which came at the expense of piped imports from Russia and Iran," the report added.
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