BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
The Southern Gas Corridor is an incredible success story, Brenda Shaffer, a faculty member of the US Naval Postgraduate School told Trend.
Shaffer said that despite the war (Azerbaijan's Second Karabakh war with Armenia), COVID-19 and more, the Southern Gas Corridor was completed on time and significantly below budget.
“The project was budgeted initially for $45 billion and in the end was completed at $33 billion. There is exceptional in the oil and gas industry. In addition, the project was launched at a period that now gas prices in Europe are at their highest since 2008 and oil is over $75 a barrel, thus the condensate produced at Shah Deniz is also getting a high price,” she said.
Shaffer added that in this last winter, Europe also saw the advantage of pipeline supplied gas versus LNG.
“A simultaneous cold snap took place in Europe and Asia, which led to both a gas shortage and price spike. Most of the LNG cargoes went to Asia, which pays a much higher price for gas. However, pipeline gas, including through TAP continued to arrive in Europe with no disruption and at a manageable price. One of the reason that gas prices are so high in Europe now is that storage was not filled due to the high prices and shortage in past months of LNG supplies,” Shaffer said.
The Southern Gas Corridor, which is comprised of Shah Deniz 2, the South Caucasus Pipeline Expansion, the Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) became fully operational on December 31, 2020.
Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) AG confirmed on Dec. 31, 2020 the commencement of gas flows from Azerbaijan. The first gas has reached Greece and Bulgaria, via the Nea Mesimvria interconnection point with DESFA, as well as Italy, via the Melendugno interconnection point with SNAM Rete Gas (SRG).
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