The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) is considering attracting new sources of gas supplies to support the second phase of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), and is also looking for new sales markets in Europe.
As Sputnik Azerbaijan reports with reference to SP Global, this was informed by SOCAR Vice President for Investment and Marketing Elshad Nasirov.
According to Nasirov, who spoke at the Atlantic Council webinar, in the future, gas may come from Turkmenistan and Israel, while the SGC can also provide gas supplies to new markets in the Balkans.
Concerning cooperation with Turkmenistan in the export of natural gas to Europe, Nasirov noted that, under the 2018 Convention, a gas pipeline can be built between two gas fields at the Caspian Sea without the need for a separate environmental impact assessment.
According to him, Israel can in the future become a source of gas that will pass through the SGC.
“Israeli gas will go to Turkey and then transported through the TANAP pipeline to Europe, and this is the most commercially viable option for exporting gas from the Eastern Mediterranean to Europe”, he said.
Azerbaijan first began to supply gas produced in the Republic through the Trans-Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP) to Europe on December 31 last year.
TAP is the European branch of the Southern Gas Corridor, a linking project through which ten billion cubic meters of natural gas will be transported from Azerbaijan to European markets annually. The pipeline’s potential makes it possible to double its throughput up to 20 billion cubic meters per year.