BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 9. Azerbaijan’s Minister of Energy, Parviz Shahbazov, addressed the ministerial session at the 9th OPEC International Seminar themed “Oil Markets: Energy Security, Growth and Prosperity,” Trend reports.
The event shone a spotlight on Azerbaijan’s pivotal role in juggling the global energy trilemma—keeping the lights on, making it accessible, and ensuring it’s green—as it underscored its contributions to Europe’s oil and gas lifeline.
Currently, Azerbaijan supplies oil to more than 20 countries and natural gas to 12 nations. Shahbazov detailed the country’s significant gas market shares in several European countries, including 78 percent of Georgia’s gas consumption, over 50 percent in Bulgaria, 18 percent in Greece, around 16 percent in Italy, and 18.5 percent in Türkiye. He emphasized that beyond countries connected to the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), there is an additional demand of 14 billion cubic meters of gas.
The minister stressed that Azerbaijan’s natural gas potential could significantly enhance Europe’s energy security, but realizing this potential requires investments and long-term commitments. He noted that developing new fields and expanding infrastructure are essential conditions for this.
Shahbazov articulated that five active hydrocarbon initiatives,
executed in collaboration with global stakeholders, are projected
to enhance oil and condensate output by the year 2030. Efforts are
concurrently progressing on innovative offshore and onshore
infrastructures.
In light of projections indicating that hydrocarbons will sustain a
53 percent allocation within the energy portfolio up to 2050,
Shahbazov articulated concerns regarding the prevailing constraints
on conventional energy resource extraction, which could precipitate
prospective supply deficiencies.
“Given that hydrocarbons are pivotal to our energy portfolio and
this trajectory is expected to persist, capital allocations in this
domain should not be deferred.” An enduring energy paradigm is
unattainable without capital infusion. A contraction in capital
allocation for energy initiatives may precipitate prospective
supply chain perturbations and tangible hazards,” he
elaborated.
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