BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 8. Azerbaijan has been among Top 5 natural gas suppliers to Europe in the second quarter of 2023, Trend reports via the European Commission.
“Norway remained the EU’s biggest pipeline gas exporter with a share of 47.7 percent (20.6 bcm), down from a 52.5 percent in the previous quarter but up from 35.9 percent a year earlier. The second largest exporter to the EU became North-Africa with 19.6percent export share (8.5 bcm), followed by UK (13.8 percent, 6 bcm), Russia (12.4percent, 5 bcm) and Azerbaijan (6.5 percent, 2,8 bcm),” said the Commission.
Reportedly, pipeline export volumes decreased from Norway (-1.9 bcm, -5.1 percent), while they increased from North Africa (1.2 bcm, +16 percent) and UK (1.6 bcm, + 36 percent) and marginally from Russia (0.4 bcm, +8 percent), while gas exports from Azerbaijan remained stable (2.8 bcm).
In the European Union, gas imports experienced a quarter-on-quarter increase of 7.7 percent, reaching a total of 76.4 billion cubic meters (bcm). However, compared to the same quarter last year, there was a notable year-on-year decrease of 17.7 percent. This contrasts with the first quarter of 2023, where gas imports were at 71.3 bcm, and the first quarter of 2022, where they stood at 90.3 bcm.
Notably, EU pipeline imports demonstrated a 4.6% increase quarter-on-quarter but faced a significant year-on-year decline of 29%. This decline is primarily attributed to a substantial reduction in Russian gas supplies during this period.
Azerbaijan started gas supplies to Europe via the Southern Gas Corridor on December 31, 2020. The total cost of the project amounted to $33 billion, notably less than the initially forecasted $45 billion. Capital expenditures for the Southern Gas Corridor project are expected to be fully reimbursed within 8–10 years.
In July 2022, Azerbaijan and the EU reached an agreement to increase the volume of gas supplies via the Southern Gas Corridor from the existing 10 billion cubic meters to 20 billion cubic meters by 2027.
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