Baku, Brussels to sign memorandum on natural gas trade in annual amount of 20 bcm - media

BAKU. July 14 (Interfax) - The European Union and Azerbaijan are planning to sign a memorandum on cooperation in the field of natural gas, the independent online media outlet EUobserver said.

The EU-Azerbaijan "strategic partnership" envisages "shipment of Caspian natural gas to the European Union and, potentially, to Western Balkan countries [..] to increase diversification. The sides aspire for bilateral trade of natural gas [...] of at least 20 billion cubic meters [bcm] of gas annually by 2027. That would entail significant investments to the expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor pipeline network," EUobserver said.

EU officials declined to say when the memo might be signed, but EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson is travelling to Baku later this month and both sides' officials will hold talks in Brussels on July 19, it said.

The memo also envisages "the development of electricity interconnections between the EU and Azerbaijan, including through the Black Sea and through the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of the Republic of Azerbaijan," EUobserver said.

"The draft text, dated 11 July, which could be still subject to changes, talks up EU climate-change and environmental goals. In particular, it speaks of the need for making existing infrastructure future proof and hydrogen ready and for reducing methane emissions and pollution. Sides also support the creation of schemes to collect natural gas that would otherwise be vented, flared or released into the atmosphere, or leaked," the media outlet quoted the memorandum as saying.

Azerbaijani gas supply to Italy, Greece and Bulgaria through the TAP gas pipeline began on December 31, 2020.