Redrawing Eurasia’s energy map: President Ilham Aliyev provides solution for gas crisis

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.

President of Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, pointed out, addressing the event, that Azerbaijan is a strategic partner not only of Bulgaria, but also of the entire EU.

“I can say that today's success is largely due to reliable and long-term strategic cooperation between Bulgaria and Azerbaijan. This cooperation has developed very successfully in the last year and is now at a new level.President Aliyev has proved that Azerbaijan is a reliable trade partner. There is nothing to add to the fact that Bulgaria has been reliably supplied by Azerbaijan for more than a year,” he said.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Peter Szijjártó, in his turn, noted that supply of Azerbaijani gas is currently the most effective solution to the energy crisis in Europe.

Romanian Energy Minister Virgil-Daniel Popescu, speaking on the sidelines of the ceremony in Sofia, stressed that Azerbaijan continues to maintain its role as a key energy supplier in the region.

European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson, making the remark at the ceremony, also noted that theEuropean Commission will continue to work with Azerbaijan because the country proved that it is a reliable partner.

What Azerbaijan is doing right now for Europe has proved to be the most effective way to mitigate the mounting energy crisis in the region. And the number of those who agree with this fact, and those seeking cooperation with Azerbaijan, has only been growing. Having signed and adopted agreements or declarations on strategic partnership with nine EU member states, Azerbaijan has secured relations with one third of all the EU countries already. And now, thanks to the great efforts Azerbaijan has put in developing and modernizing critical gas infrastructure under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, Europe can reap the rewards, and the staggering energy crisis does not seem so insoluble anymore. The farsighted energy policy of President Ilham Aliyev, which has basically kicked off back in 2020, when the Southern Gas Corridor project was launched, today, proves itself as if not the only, but the one most successful and rightest way to help Europe in these difficult times.(Trend)