Today, the national security of the countries cannot be separated from energy security, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on June 28 at the opening ceremony of the 23rd Annual Session of the OSCE PA in Baku.
President Aliyev said Azerbaijan contributes to security, and through the energy diplomacy the country has already established regional cooperation and is expanding it.
“Today, our plans go beyond our region. And along with traditional partners and allies in energy policy, we invite our European partners to be part of our initiatives,” he added.
The president said Azerbaijan is the first country in the world to connect the Caspian Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and has diversified the network of pipelines.
“That allowed us to diversify our supply roots, and do not depend on any supply route, which is important for us as producers. And we also helped our partners to diversify, to get additional energy resources from our structures, from our oil and gas fields,” he said.
“The EU-Azerbaijan relations are also partly based on energy cooperation, and in a memorandum that was signed between the President of the European Commission and myself, Azerbaijan was identified as the main supporter and enabler of the Southern Gas corridor,” President Aliyev said, adding that the Southern Gas Corridor is a historic project, initiated by Azerbaijan.
“We have taken the biggest financial burden, the biggest responsibility, and we are implementing this project,” the president said.
President Aliyev added that the gas transportation will be carried out through three pipelines, which actually, when completely constructed, will make one big pipeline, from Baku to Europe, in particular, Italy.
“They are – the Trans Anatolian Pipeline, South Caucasus Pipeline and Trans Adriatic Pipeline,” he noted. “This is Europe’s biggest infrastructure project implemented now, and Azerbaijan took the leadership in delivering this project, a historic one, which will change the energy map of the region and of Europe, and which will be of benefit to energy transit countries and consumers.”
President Aliyev also noted that in the energy policy, energy security and diplomacy, the balance of interests between these three components is the main prerequisite for success.
“I am glad that we have achieved that, and in the coming years, together with our partners, we will implement this historic project,” Azerbaijani president stressed.
* On December 17, 2013, a final investment decision was made on the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz offshore gas and condensate field’s development. The gas produced at this field will first go to the European market.
The gas to be produced within the Stage 2 of the field’s development will be exported to Turkey (six billion cubic meters per year) and to the European markets (10 billion cubic meters per year) by means of expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and construction of the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
Partners operating for Shah Deniz field’s development, which has reserves of 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas, include SOCAR with a share of 16.7%, British BP (28.8%), Turkish TPAO (19%) Norwegian Statoil (15.5%), Iranian NICO (10%) and Russian LUKoil (10%).
