BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.18
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Hungary could start importing natural gas from Azerbaijan from 2023, said Péter Szijjártó, Hungarian foreign affairs and trade minister.
Szijjártó said the annual 1-2 billion cubic metres of gas Hungary would import from Azerbaijan would greatly boost the security of the country’s gas supply, Trend reports citing Hungary Today.
He said Hungary’s purchase of Azerbaijani gas had been made possible by the near completion of the Southern Gas Corridor and Azerbaijan’s increase of its gas output.
He highlighted an agreement between Hungarian oil and gas company MOL and the US company Chevron which resulted in MOL acquiring a 9.5 percent stake in Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block of oil fields and nearly 9 percent share in Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.
Szijjártó said this had been the largest Hungarian investment in the Caucasus.
The Southern Gas Corridor project aims to increase and diversify European energy supply by bringing gas resources from the Caspian Sea to markets in Europe.
The Southern Gas Corridor comprises the following four projects: (i) operation of Shah Deniz natural gas-condensate field ("SD1" project) and its full-field development ("SD2'" project), (ii) the operation of the South Caucasus Pipeline ("SCP" project) and its expansion ("SCPX" project), (iii) the construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline ("TANAP" project) and (iv) the construction of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline ("TAP" project) (SD2, SCPX, TANAP and TAP collectively, the "Projects").
The Projects have an estimated investment cost of approximately $40 billion. Upon completion, the SD2 project will add a further 16 bcm of natural gas per annum to 10.9 bcma (maximum production capacity) already produced under SD1 project.
Total length of the newly constructed SCPX, TANAP and TAP pipelines will be more than 3,200 kilometres.
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