Azerbaijan to export 12 bln M3 of gas to EU in 2022 - EC head

BAKU. July 18 (Interfax) - Azerbaijan will increase its gas supplies this year to the European Union to 12 billion cubic meters from 8.1 billion in 2021, European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen said.

A new memorandum of understanding on strategic energy partnership, signed by her with the country's president today, includes an obligation to double the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) capacity to at least 20 billion cubic meters per year by 2027, von der Leyen told a joint briefing with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on Monday.

Azerbaijan has already started to increase its gas supplies to the expected 12 billion cubic meters to make up for reduced supplies of Russian gas, thus contributing to EU energy security, she said.

It was reported that gas supplies through the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) to Italy, Greece and Bulgaria started on December 31, 2020.

In 2021, Azerbaijan's gas exports to the EU totaled 8.2 billion cubic meters; in the first quarter of 2022, they were 2.6 billion cubic meters. Total gas exports for the whole of 2022 are expected to come in at 24 billion cubic meters.

The TAP is 878 kilometers long, of which 550km cross northern Greece, 215km Albania, 105km the Adriatic Sea, and 8km Italy. The TAP is the last component of the SGC infrastructure built for Azerbaijani gas supplies to Europe.

The TAP was designed to transport 10 billion cubic meters of Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas to Europe. It has the capacity to increase that to 20 billion cubic meters per year.