BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 11. The outgoing week was remembered for important statements regarding the increase in Azerbaijani gas supplies to Europe, Trend reports.
As of 2022, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which is part of the Southern Gas Corridor, is expected to bring almost 10 billion cubic meters to Italy, 3 billion cubic meters more than 7 billion cubic meters in 2021, said Luca Schieppati, TAP managing director.
Considering the $60 per barrel price cap for Russia’s oil supplies imposed by the EU, the demand for Azerbaijani energy resources on the world market will increase, former US Ambassador to Turkmenistan Allan Mustard said.
"This sequence of events justifies the far-sighted investment in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline and in the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), and in my view justifies additional investment in similar infrastructure that will allow larger exports of Caspian Basin hydrocarbons to the West," he said.
Furthemore, Turkish Energy Minister Fatih Donmez said that Türkiye counts on Azerbaijan's participation in the gas hub project as the source country.
Chairman of the upper house of the Parliament of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, also believes that Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan favor a diversified energy supply chain to international markets, particularly in the European direction. According to him, at the moment, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan have great potential for cooperation in the energy sector.
In addition, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Serbia, Dubravka Djedovic stated that access to Azerbaijani gas, is a priority for Serbia and that currently Serbia is already working to ensure this access.
"This year, Serbia started the construction of a gas interconnector with Bulgaria, which should be completed in the last quarter of next year. This will enable us, already in the first quarter of 2024, to connect with the TAP gas pipeline that supplies natural gas to Greece, and then through the recently opened Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria, this energy source will also reach our market," added the minister.
Also, it was announced that Azerbaijan may become one of the shareholders of the Latvian "Latvijas Gāze" energy company.
"The work in this direction is underway. Azerbaijan may become a significant partner of the EU, and help solve the energy problems. Currently, Azerbaijan supplies natural gas to such European countries as Bulgaria and Greece, and 60 percent of Italy's demand is met by Azerbaijani gas. And this is far from the limit," said Ameriks.
Meanwhile, the revenues of the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) from the Azeri–Chirag–Gunashli oil fields from January through November 2022 totaled $9.161 billion, which is 73.76 percent, or $3.8 billion, more than in the same period of the previous year ($5.7 billion).
Moreover, the income of the SOFAZ from sales of gas and condensate produced at the Shah Deniz field from January through November 2022 totaled $1.3 billion, up by almost two times compared to the same period in 2021 ($730.7 million).