Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.20
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The countries of the European Southern Corridor Region estimate to account for more than 27 percent of the total EU gas demand in 10 years, according to the Southern Corridor Gas Regional Investment Plan 2017 - 2026 Main Report.
The European Southern Corridor Region covers ten countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Among the countries of the Southern Corridor Italy remains the largest gas market as it represents 63 percent of the total gas consumption in the region, said the report.
The demand for natural gas is expected to mark a moderate increase over the next ten years and this despite the decrease registered in some of the recent years, according to the report.
“This region hosts new transmission projects with larger capacities than planned infrastructure in the other regions. Therefore new potential volumes will have high influence on security of supply and diversification of routes and/or sources in the states of the area and all over Europe,” said the report.
The report says that the rationale behind the key European gas transmission projects is increasing the flexibility and integration of energy markets by ensuring different connections, more alternatives of supply sources and at the same time increasing the cross-border capacities.
Despite the fact that a very significant part of the natural gas, which is used in the EU, crosses at least one border, the flexibility of its transmission system still needs to be increased, according to the report.
The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. It envisages the transportation of gas from the Caspian region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey.
At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.
As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans Adriatic Pipeline.
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