EU welcomes interest of additional suppliers to join Southern Gas Corridor
June 13, 2018 | 19:13 |222
The European Union welcomes the interest of additional suppliers to join the Southern Gas Corridor project (SGC), which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe. According to Azerbaijan media, in this connection, Europe is negotiating with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan with respect to the construction of the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline that designed to connect the Turkmen and Azerbaijan coasts of the Caspian Sea. “Our vision of the Southern Gas Corridor is not limited to the Shah Deniz field. We therefore welcome the interest of potential additional suppliers of natural gas,” the media quoted Maros Sefcovic, European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union. Interest in the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline project has increased literally over the past few days, and this is due to the launch of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP) in the Turkish province of Eskisehir. The pipeline is purposed to deliver Azerbaijani gas to the Turkish and European markets. The presidents of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Serbia and Ukraine attended the opening ceremony of the TANAP. At the opening ceremony, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed that energy creates a basis not for wars, but for joint cooperation. He promised that the first gas supplies to the EU would reach in June 2019. In 2015, the construction of the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline, which is 1,805 km long in total, began formally. It envisages transportation of gas from the Azerbaijani field Shah Deniz with reserves of 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas. At the same time, the Azerbaijani gas is likely to be insufficient to meet the needs of the SGC. Even Azerbaijani experts share these fears. That is why the European Union has recently focused on the construction of the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline that will connect Turkmen gas to the Southern Gas Corridor and will further diversify natural gas supplies to Europe on a long-term basis.Nury AMANOV
