BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 13
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Germany’s Uniper company will purchase 1.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per year via the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), Trend reports citing the company’s Sustainability Report.
In 2020, to provide customers in Europe with a more diversified gas supply, Uniper will begin to procure gas from Azerbaijan.
“Under a long-term contract concluded in 2013 with Baku-based SOCAR (State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic), Uniper will source up to 1.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas per year via the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), a system of pipelines that connects the Caspian region and the Middle East to Southeastern Europe,” reads the report.
As part of this arrangement, in 2016 Uniper and SOCAR formed a joint venture to promote energy efficiency. The joint venture’s first project was to upgrade and expand the power and steam generators at a SOCAR chemical complex located about 30 kilometers north of Baku.
In November 2019, Uniper and SOCAR representatives signed a collaboration initiative to deepen the two companies’ partnership.
The Shah Deniz consortium announced on September 19, 2013 that 25-year sales agreements have been concluded for just over 10 billion cubic meters a year of gas to be produced from the Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan as a result of the development of Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz project.
The contracts on the purchase of Azerbaijani gas from the second phase of Shah Deniz field development (Shah Deniz-2 project) were signed with Shell, Bulgar gas,Gas Natural Fenosa, EON, Gaz de France, Hera, Enel, Axpo, DEPA.
Since January 1, 2016, Uniper had a spin-off with German E.ON company which was one of the nine European companies that signed an agreement with Shah Deniz consortium in September 2013 on purchasing Azerbaijani gas.
The gas trading business is now in the responsibility of Uniper.
Uniper procures natural gas from a variety of producers in several countries, mainly Russia, the Netherlands, and Germany.
---
Follow the author on Twitter:@Lyaman_Zeyn