BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 8. Documents on gas supply in the Albanian city of Korce may be signed during the anniversary meeting of the Advisory Council on the Southern Gas Corridor scheduled for March 1, a source in the Azerbaijani government told Trend.
"We intended to agree on a thorough feasibility assessment for this project and make the final investment decision (FID) by the end of December 2023; however, due to delays on the Albanian side, the process was somewhat delayed. Consultations will continue in February, and official approval is likely to occur in March," the source said.
The expected financing by SOCAR will mark Azerbaijan's first direct investment in the construction of a gas distribution line in Albania, according to the source.
Korce is Albania's significant technical, tourist, and agricultural hub.
The gas in Korce is intended to be utilized for both heating and electricity generation (instead of coal) as part of REPower EU, a goal to rapidly reduce reliance on Russian fossil fuels and accelerate the green transition.
The second city in the gas supply process of Albania will be Fieri, 15 kilometers from the Adriatic Sea, and the project will also involve SOCAR investments.
Both cities are near the infrastructure of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which has been operational since 2020 and is the European leg of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) (the corridor originates in Baku).
Albania remains simply a transit country on the SGC line, which has been operational since December 2020. However, Albanian officials announced a willingness to purchase approximately 700 million cubic meters of gas each year with the expansion of the SGC, with 200 million cubic meters purchased in the next two years.