BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 2. Within the framework of the conference "Azerbaijan-Italy: "The Way to Strengthen Multifaceted Strategic Partnership" in Baku, Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov met with a delegation led by Italy's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Luigi Di Maio, Trend reports citing ministry.
The meeting discussed the development of energy cooperation between Azerbaijan and Italy.
Luigi Di Maio praised the role of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) in strengthening bilateral energy cooperation, energy security and position in the European gas market. He stressed the importance of starting work on expanding TAP.
Parviz Shahbazov spoke about the growing importance of natural gas supplies via TAP, along with crude oil supplies, in energy cooperation with Italy, Azerbaijan's largest and most reliable trading partner. Stressing that 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas have already been delivered to Europe through TAP, the minister said that the presence of large gas resources, the important role of natural gas in the energy transition, and the growing interest in diversifying gas supply sources create an opportunity for expanding TAP.
"At current growth rates, we expect our gas exports to Italy to reach 9.5 bcm by the end of this year, based on long-term and spot agreements. The expansion of TAP could provide a large amount of natural gas not only to Italy, but also to other European countries. Therefore, we invite interested parties to take an active part in this process," he said.
The minister also noted the possibility of transporting a hydrogen mixture in the amount of 10% with the expansion of the TAP. Emphasizing that the export of "green" energy and "green" hydrogen to Europe using offshore wind energy is also on the agenda, he called on Italian companies to evaluate the possibilities of such cooperation.
At the meeting, issues of cooperation between the two countries in various fields, as well as those related to the next meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation, were discussed.