The United States and the EU have a lot of work to do in order to diversify their energy supplies, and getting more gas from Azerbaijan is today’s agenda, US Secretary of State John Kerry said at the U.S.-EU Energy Council Meeting in Brussels on April 2.
“Our agenda today, or at least part of it, is going to be to look at how do we get more natural gas through what folks call the Southern corridor, from Azerbaijan to Turkey and on to Europe,” said Kerry, whose remarks are posted at the US State Department website.
He added that there are also other opportunities, including LNG terminals planned across Europe, and pipelines that can get gas to customers.
“But we, all of us, have to make certain that we are not dependent on one single source of energy,” Kerry added.
The Southern Gas Corridor is a project that will allow Europe to diversify its sources of hydrocarbon supply and strengthen energy security and enable Azerbaijan to get a new market in Europe.
Gas to be produced as part of the Shah Deniz-2 project is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor.
The final investment decision was made on the second phase of the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz offshore gas and condensate field’s development on Dec.17 2013.
Gas to a volume of 10 billion cubic meters from the field will go in the first instance to the European market.
The gas to be produced within the second phase of the field’s development will be exported to Turkey and to European markets by means of expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and construction of the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).