BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 1
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Indeed, the Southern Gas Corridor is a huge project and Azerbaijan was an important driving force for its successful realization, Bulgarian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Nikolay Yankov told Trend.
“Its implementation was an example of what can be accomplished when governments, private companies and financial institutions are having the motivation and desire to work together and I am proud that Bulgaria was a part of this endeavor from the very beginning until now. This wouldn’t be possible without the long-standing and friendly bilateral political relations between our countries, which have naturally developed into a strategic partnership, including in the energy field,” said the ambassador.
Yankov pointed out that as a matter of fact, now Bulgaria is the only country through which the SGC is not passing but is still receiving 1 billion m3 of Azerbaijani gas annually.
“This may not sound a big number to you but this amount represents 10% of the TAP capacity at this stage and about 30 percent of Bulgaria’s annual consumption. In this way Azerbaijan becomes the second largest supplier of gas to Bulgaria and a symbol of real diversification of both the sources and routes for gas supply,” said the envoy.
He went on to add that thanks to the SGC development, Bulgaria started the construction of a new gas interconnector with Greece, which will be operational before the end of this year.
“Its capacity will allow transit of Azerbaijani gas to other neighboring countries, thus contributing to the diversification of energy supplies in the Southeast Europe. IGB together with the well-developed national gas transmission system and already existing gas connectors with Turkey, Greece and Romania will provide to my country an opportunity to become a real regional hub for gas distribution from different sources and different routes to a number of consumers, which in fact is the essence of the diversification. So, the SGC has changed not only Bulgaria’s energy map but the one of the entire Balkan region,” said Yankov.
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