Uniper ready to double purchases of Azerbaijani gas
BAKU. Sept 18 (Interfax) - Germany's Uniper is interested in increasing purchases of Azerbaijani gas, and is ready to double them from the current 1.5 billion cubic meters per year, Rashad Huseynli, head of the Uniper office in Azerbaijan, told reporters in Baku.
"We are currently buying 1.5 bcm of gas [under Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz field development] and can double this. Uniper is interested in the Azerbaijani gas market and the Caspian region as a whole," he said.
"Talks with SOCAR [State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic] are ongoing, and we would like to buy more gas, but since the discussions are ongoing, I cannot disclose the details. What these volumes will be depends on SOCAR, that is, on its capabilities, the capabilities of Azerbaijan's export infrastructure and fields. However, I don't see any problems with the fields, the main issue is the export infrastructure and expanding it. SOCAR needs support for this, especially from the European Union. European financial institutions are focusing on the green agenda and do not consider financing carbon projects to be prestigious. But we still intend to increase gas purchases from Azerbaijan, and we are ready to buy it if they are," Huseynli said.
He said Uniper saw strong demand for gas in Europe.
Uniper Chief Commercial Officer Carsten Poppinga discussed increasing gas supplies in Baku on August 28. Uniper Vice President Michael Hilmer said at an energy forum in Baku in June that the company was keen to increase supplies of Azerbaijani gas, "particularly in light of the strategic energy partnership that Azerbaijan and the European Commission entered into in the middle of 2022, as part of the plan to double the export capacity of the Southern Gas Corridor."
Uniper (formerly E.ON) signed an agreement to buy natural gas with the Shah Deniz consortium in 2013. The agreement gave Uniper the option to receive around 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the Shah Deniz field, starting in 2019.