BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 27. Italy has witnessed a notable rise in natural gas imports from Azerbaijan, with figures indicating a 12.8 percent increase year-on-year, Eurostat, the European Union's statistical office, told Trend.
Italy imported 826.2 million cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan in January 2024, compared to 732.7 million cubic meters in January 2023.
While the volume of imports grew significantly, the value experienced a notable decrease. In January 2023, the value of imports stood at 842.7 million euros, whereas in January 2024, it plummeted to 313.9 million euros, marking a reduction by almost 2.7 times.
In 2023, Italy imported a total of 9.3 billion cubic meters of gas from Azerbaijan, valued at 4.97 billion euros.
Azerbaijan initiated gas transportation to Europe through the Southern Gas Corridor on December 31, 2020. This corridor facilitates the transport of gas from the Caspian Sea region to European countries, passing through Georgia and Türkiye. The project, with a total cost of 33 billion US dollars, is anticipated to recoup its capital costs within 8–10 years.
In July 2022, Azerbaijan and the European Union reached an agreement to double the volume of gas supplies via the Southern Gas Corridor, from the current 10 billion cubic meters to 20 billion cubic meters by 2027.
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