Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 20
By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:
Azerbaijan and the entire Caspian region are important partners of Europe in the energy sector, European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic said in his video appeal to the participants of the 7th International Caspian Energy Forum Baku-2018 on Sept. 20.
Azerbaijan is the main participant of the Southern Gas Corridor project, which will allow Europe to diversify energy sources and improve the regional geopolitical balance, Sefcovic said.
The first volumes of Azerbaijan’s gas will reach Europe in 2020, he noted.
This will be a historic event, which can be called the culmination of political and economic efforts of both states and private sectors of the participating countries, he added.
The gas will not only allow European countries to achieve their energy goals, but will also benefit the non-EU countries, he said.
In addition, the success of SGC can be used in cooperation in other areas, such as alternative energy, environmental issues and so on, he noted.
The SGC is one of the priority projects for the EU, and it provides for the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region through Georgia and Turkey to Europe.
On May 29, Baku hosted the launch ceremony of the first phase of the Southern Gas Corridor project, and on June 12, the opening ceremony of TANAP pipeline was held in the Turkish province of Eskisehir with the participation of the presidents of Azerbaijan - Ilham Aliyev, Turkey - Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Ukraine - Petro Poroshenko and Serbia - Alexander Vucic.
Thus, the first gas from the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field coming out of the Sangachal terminal expanded for Shah Deniz-2 project and passing through the expanded South Caucasus Gas Pipeline, has already gone through the first segment of the Southern Gas Corridor. The next stage was the commissioning of the TANAP gas pipeline, through which the gas will enter the territory of Turkey and will pass on further to Europe.
The TANAP pipeline has been laid from the Georgian-Turkish border to the Western border of Turkey. The TANAP pipeline together with another – Trans-Adriatic - gas pipeline is part of the "Southern Gas Corridor" project, which provides for the transportation of gas from the Azerbaijani "Shah Deniz" field to Europe.
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