BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 18. The EU and Azerbaijan may consult one another with a view to preventing safety hazards as necessary for natural gas infrastructure used for the extraction, trade, transport and export of natural gas between the Sides, in accordance with each Sides’ domestic laws, regulations, policies and procedures, Trend reports citing the text of the new Memorandum of Understanding on a Strategic Partnership in the Field of Energy signed today between the EU and Azerbaijan.
The Sides concur on the importance of addressing methane emissions as a powerful global warming contributor, and of cooperating in advancing intermediate steps to consider Azerbaijan’s accession to the Global Methane Pledge.
The Sides should promote the reduction of methane emissions throughout the entire supply chain, and in particular advance projects to measure methane emissions within the scope of an internationally accepted measurement, reporting and verification standard in line with the UN Oil and Gas Methane Partnership, examine new technologies for reducing venting and flaring, and explore possibilities for the utilisation of methane captured throughout the entire supply chain.
To this end, the Sides also support the creation of schemes to collect natural gas that would otherwise be vented, flared or released into the atmosphere, or leaked through existing infrastructure, either in the gas supply chain, or from oil activities that produce uncollected associated gas. The aim should be to incentivise fossil natural gas collection through price mechanisms and the ability of the European Union to absorb the collected volumes.
The Sides endeavour to ensure, jointly and separately, that future investments in projects or activities developed within the framework of this Memorandum of Understanding shall include robust requirements with respect to preventing pollution of the marine or land environment and preventing damage by pollution to a coastline, shore facilities or amenities.
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