This statement was made by the Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan Parviz Shahbazov today in Budapest, speaking at the third meeting of the Ministers of Energy of the Member States of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS).
According to the minister, this year, gas export from Azerbaijan is expected to reach 24.5 bcm, of which about 12 bcm – to Europe, 10.2 bcm – to Turkey.
Shahbazov, whose words are quoted by the press service of the Ministry of Energy, noted in his speech that 20.9 bcm of Azerbaijani gas have so far been exported to Turkey through the TANAP and TAP gas pipelines, and 22 bcm to Europe.
The minister also stressed that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to strengthening relations with the OTS countries. “In 2022, Azerbaijan’s trade turnover with the OTS countries (including Turkmenistan and Hungary, which have observer status in the organization) increased by 42.7% to over $7.2 billion. The total accumulated investments of these countries in the economy of Azerbaijan are estimated at $14.3 billion, while Azerbaijani investments in these countries exceeded $21 billion,” he said.
Shahbazov added that Azerbaijan plans to expand cooperation with the OTS countries in the fuel and energy sector. In particular, it is planned to supply “green energy” and gas to Hungary, through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in 2023 1.5 million tons of oil from Kazakhstan will be supplied to world markets, it is planned to implement new projects with Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan.
As previously reported, in 2022 Azerbaijan increased gas exports by 18% to 22.3 bcm, supplies to Europe amounted to 11.4 bcm (+39%).
Currently, buyers of Azerbaijani gas in Europe are Italy, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania. At the end of 2023, Azerbaijani gas supplies to Hungary will begin.
Caspian Barrel
