BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 6. The second day of the 29th Baku Energy Forum is underway on June 6, Trend reports.
Today's panel discussions will cover topics such as "Gas Dialogue: The Role of Gas Supply in the Energy Crisis," "Exploration and Production Opportunities in the Caspian Region," "Oil Flows: Cross-Logistics and Infrastructure Development in Azerbaijan," "The Role of Human Capital in a Successful Energy Transition," and "Empowering and Accelerating Green Transition: Strategies for COP29 and for Green World".
Addressing the panelists, Uniper VP Michael Hilmer spoke about the company's 2040 climate goals. "Our company has clear climate goals. Germany aims to become climate-neutral by 2045, and Uniper by 2040. However, gas remains and will continue to be an important fuel for the transition period".
Hungary's MVM CEO Károly Mátrai emphasized the critical importance of the company's energy agreements with Azerbaijan. "Currently, we are mainly dependent on Russian gas, but we are trying to diversify our gas sources. In this regard, cooperation with Azerbaijan is important".
In turn, the rep of the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade Petr Binhack noted that, currently, gas contributes to nearly five percent of electricity production in the Czech Republic. "It is anticipated that around 10 percent of our electricity will be derived from natural gas by 2035. By incorporating renewable sources, we can make significant progress towards our ultimate objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050".
Infrastructure needs to be developed to supply gas to landlocked EU states, added Petr Binhack. "The Czech Republic has been actively negotiating alternative routes for some time. We are in touch with our German colleagues and are very grateful for the investments and efforts aimed at creating infrastructure for LNG. This is not a new topic; it was discussed at the European level 10 years ago. Now we have LNG terminals on the Baltic and North Sea coasts, which is a very positive step. We need to develop infrastructure that will deliver gas from the coast to inland member countries, such as the Czech Republic. This is another redirection of gas flows in Europe: not from east to west, not from north to south, but from west to east. This is a significant change, and we see that there are bottlenecks that need to be addressed".
Advisor to the Vice President at SOCAR Sariyya Buniyatova noted that the company plans to implement new projects in oil and gas production as well as in the LNG sector. "We are actively developing and expanding our portfolio in the oil and gas production sector. A notable example is our recent acquisition of a 3 percent stake in an oil project in the UAE. We have plans for additional projects in production as well as in LNG".
On June 5 and 6, the 29th Baku Energy Forum, one of the most significant energy events in the Caspian region, is being held at the Baku Congress Center, designed with an ecological concept, as part of Baku Energy Week.
The Baku Energy Forum is supported by the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, with the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) as the main partner. For the first time, the forum is being held with the support of OPEC.
More than 600 delegates are participating in the forum. In addition to Azerbaijan, representatives from Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, the UK, Hungary, Georgia, Israel, India, Italy, Kazakhstan, Qatar, China, Latvia, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, the UAE, Russia, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, the US, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Finland, France, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, and Japan will also be present. This year, the forum features a record number of speakers - 81.
The forum's agenda includes critical energy issues for both Azerbaijan and the entire Caspian region. Key points on the agenda focus on reviewing and financing projects related to energy security, the energy transition, and green energy.
