BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 25. Reuters agency revealed the gas price exceeding $410 per 1,000 cubic meters in Europe for the first time since 2023, remaining above $400, this week, on May 23, Trend reports.
The closure of the Kollsnes plant and the Troll gas field in Norway for maintenance provided an explanation for this.
The pricing situation in the EU is important for Azerbaijan, which has been exporting gas to the EU since December 2020. The main buyer of Azerbaijani gas is Italy.
The EU's statistical office, Eurostat, said that Italy increased its import of natural gas from Azerbaijan by 2.6 percent year-on-year in March to 485.1 million cubic meters, while another buyer of Azerbaijani gas, Greece, reduced its imports by 0.4 percent to 93.9 million cubic meters.
Eurostat also said that Bulgaria imported 44.6 million cubic meters of natural gas from Azerbaijan in March 2024, which is 0.22 percent more than in March 2023.
This week, the binding phase of the market test to increase the capacity of the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector (IGB) to five billion cubic meters per year from the current three billion cubic meters per year began, according to the pipeline operator ICGB.
Moreover, this week, Secretary of State for Energy at Slovenia's Ministry of Environment, Climate and Energy Tina Sersen pointed out that Slovenia is interested in receiving gas from Azerbaijan and could do so via Italy in the event of reaching agreements.
She explained that the discussions involve 300 million cubic meters per year.
Azerbaijan's resources for gas exports to Europe come from the Caspian Shah Deniz field.
Uzbekistan's Minister of Investments, Industry, and Trade Laziz Kudratov said on the sidelines of the 2nd Azerbaijan-Uzbekistan Interregional Forum in Quba this week that Uzbekneftegaz company can join the Shah Deniz gas condensate project on the Azerbaijani shelf of the Caspian Sea and is finalizing negotiations with SOCAR.
Meanwhile, Pakistan invited Azerbaijan to participate in projects related to oil, gas, and renewable energy sources, according to the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan, following the first meeting of the Joint Working Group on Energy between Azerbaijan and Pakistan (held online).
SOCAR Trading supplies Pakistan with liquefied natural gas from third countries as a trading intermediary.
Gas is a raw material for the production of urea and methanol. This week, it was reported that SOCAR Carbamide in Sumgayit produced 188,200 tons of urea (nitrogen fertilizers) from January through April 2024, which is 42 percent more than the same period in 2023.
SOCAR Methanol LLC of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) produced 157,000 tons of methanol (methyl alcohol) in the above period, which is 28.6 percent more than in the same period in 2023.
On May 22, the international analytical company Bloomberg held an event in Baku on "World of Commodities and Energy Transition".
One of the speakers, Bloomberg market specialist Douglas Crawford, noted that Azerbaijan is a producer of hydrocarbons, developing green energy in parallel, and Bloomberg considered it important to hold a presentation of its work in Baku, especially since Azerbaijan will host COP29 in 2024.
On the same day, May 22, Baker Hughes company signed an agreement in Baku with Azneft Production Association, part of SOCAR, to establish a joint center for the assembly and service of electric submersible pumps (ESP) in Azerbaijan.
Besides, this week, the self-elevating semi-submersible drilling rig (SSDR) "Saturn" was delivered from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan for modernization and potential work on the Caspian shelf.
Another Caspian neighbor of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, published a report this week on the implementation of the Fuel and Energy Complex Development Concept for 2023.
The report mentioned the export of 2,300 tons of uranium in 2023 through the territory of Azerbaijan within the framework of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR or Middle Corridor).
Additionally, at the beginning of the week, Kazakhstan ratified a protocol to extend the transit of Russian oil to China for 10 years.
The law on ratification was signed by Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
The transit agreement is extended until January 1, 2034.
With the current exchange rate between US dollars and tenge, the
cost of delivering one metric ton of oil is $2.1.
Ten million tons of oil will pass through Kazakhstan each year as
per the terms of the agreement.
