BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 12
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
Azerbaijan’ state oil company SOCAR expects its gas sales continue unimpeded by energy transition, SOCAR President Rovnag Abdullayev said, Trend reports.
Despite a growing backlash across Europe toward fossil fuel use, Abdullayev told S&P Global Platts that gas still had a crucial role to play in the European energy mix.
SOCAR was looking at carbon capture and storage (CCS) and carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) projects as a way of reducing emissions, he said.
"As a company, we have not observed this backlash against gas yet. We rather feel that there is a more general resentment towards the excessive use of fossil fuels. While there were some general considerations, from a corporate perspective we are not so concerned about the future sales of gas from Azerbaijan,” he said.
Abdullayev went on to add that the Southern Gas Corridor is almost complete, strictly abiding to the highest security and environmental standards.
According to European Commission-backed research, Azerbaijan has been classified as a "low-emission source" in the chain from the gas fields to the consumption market among European gas suppliers, he said.
"We have signed contracts for the sale of gas for the next 25 years with a wide array of major European companies. Our buyers do not anticipate any difficulties in the buying of our products as there is a widening gap between local production in Europe and demand, according to forecasts."
The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority projects for the EU and envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region through Georgia and Turkey to Europe.
The launching ceremony of the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor was held in Baku on May 29, 2018, while opening ceremony of TANAP’s Phase 0 was held on June 12, 2018 in the Turkish city of Eskisehir. TANAP-Europe connection was opened on Nov.30 in Ipsala, Edirne, Turkey.
Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) were connected on the Turkish-Greek border.
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