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Weekly review of main events in Azerbaijani energy sector

Economy Materials 30 January 2023 10:37 (UTC +04:00)
Weekly review of main events in Azerbaijani energy sector
Maryana Ahmadova
Maryana Ahmadova
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BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 30. Over the last week, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary Peter Szijjarto stated that Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia have asked the European Commission to allocate funds for developing infrastructure to get additional natural gas from Azerbaijan.

"It is about developing the existing infrastructure, construction of new interconnectors and expanding the capacity of the existing ones. It is important to increase the number of interconnectors in Europe in order to boost gas imports from Azerbaijan," he said.

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev during his meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has also expressed interest in boosting energy cooperation between the two countries. Following the talks, the sides agreed to accelerate the process of working out major projects in the oil and gas and chemical sectors, as well as create a joint investment fund.

Azerbaijan and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) discussed the strategic partnership agreement on the development and transport of green energy among Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary, energy transition, hydrogen energy, and other issues.

This issue was discussed at the meeting between Azerbaijani Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov and IFC’s Regional Director for Europe Rana Karadsheh.

According to the ministry, the sides addressed energy issues in the economic development of Azerbaijan, as well as traditional and green energy projects implemented in the country. They also reviewed prospects for accelerating private sector involvement in the energy sector and developing Azerbaijan-IFC cooperation.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan has recorded surge in total gas export value for 2022. According to the statistics, this figure amounted to $14.99 billion, up by $9.45 billion (more than 2.7 times) compared to 2021. Azerbaijan exported more than 18.9 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas last year, which is 1.08 billion cubic meters (5.4 percent) less than in 2021. The share of gas in the total export of the country in the specified period amounted to 39.29 percent.

At the same time, bp has announced its production plans for 2023. Mainly, bp expects to see the first volumes of oil from the Azeri Central East (ACE) platform of the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) block in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea in early 2024.

Meanwhile, according to bp, physical work on the construction of a 240 MW "Shafag" (Sunrise) solar power plant in Jabrayil / Zangilan zone may begin this year.

"The main commercial issues on this project have already been resolved. Currently, work is underway to clear the territories by the Azerbaijani National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA). We hope that additional steps will be taken this year to start the implementation of this project," bp Vice President for the Caspian region Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli said.

Also, as Aslanbayli said, the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline is hot tapped and may resume transportation any time. "We’re not using the pipeline at the moment, and all the exports go through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan. Reopening of Baku-Supsa depends on nominations from shippers for a tanker load at Supsa. If we receive nominations, we can start transportation at that very moment, since Baku-Supsa is hot tapped. When pipelines are cold tapped, it takes 3 months or so to resume," he added.

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