Tokyo, 26 April, /AJMEDIA/
As Europe is trying to find ways to ward off the energy crisis, Azerbaijan yet again came to the aid of the countries of the region. The Memorandum of Understanding for encouraging cooperation among Bulgartransgaz (Bulgaria), Transgaz (Romania), FGSZ (Hungary), Eustream (Slovakia), and the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), which was signed yesterday in Bulgaria’s Sofia, is another step for strengthening energy cooperation between Azerbaijan and the EU countries.
The essence of this document, prepared within the framework of the Solidarity Ring (STRING) initiative, proposed by Bulgaria and supported by the European Commission, lies in securing stable natural gas supply to the EU and Central and South-Eastern Europe. Under this initiative, additional gas will be delivered via upgraded gas transport networks of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.
Azerbaijan plays a particularly crucial role in the implementation of the STRING initiative. Following the MoU signing ceremony, SOCAR’s new office in Sofia has been launched. Moreover, the license for “SOCAR Trading” to engage in natural gas trading in Europe, has also been approved already.
As President Ilham Aliyev noted, addressing the signing ceremony, today, Azerbaijani gas is exported to Georgia, Türkiye, Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, and, starting this year, to Romania.
Moreover, Azerbaijani gas is expected to reach Hungary and Slovakia by 2023-end, if all the necessary infrastructure is in place.
If in 2021, Azerbaijan’s gas supplies to Europe stood at 8 bcm, in 2022, the supplies already reached 11 bcm. This year, the country targets to boost its gas exports to the region to 12 bcm. In total, the supply of Azerbaijani gas on the world market is expected to stand at 24.5 bcm in 2023. And the fact, that almost half of this volume accounts for Europe, speaks for itself.
“We are in the process of negotiations with Albania to build a local gas distribution system, because the Southern Gas Corridor crosses Albania’s territory. As a member of the “Solidarity Ring”, I’m sure, Slovakia will soon become our partner in energy as well. We will increase the geography of our gas supplies from 6 to at least 10 countries. I say at least, because I think this is not the end of the story. We plan to expand furthermore our presence on the European gas market. I’d like to underline the special role of President of Bulgaria Mr. Radev in the initiative to create this solid team of partners. The “Solidarity Ring”, I’m sure, will play an important role in the implementation of our joint ambitious plans,” President Ilham Aliyev added.
A number of distinguished guests have participated in the event in Sofia, and not a single one of them has refrained from words of gratitude and support to Azerbaijan in its initiatives.
