Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov said that Azerbaijan will have increased natural-gas exports to Europe by 30 percent until the end of this year, as part of Europe’s efforts to to lessen its dependence on Russian energy.
Over the eight months of this year, Baku “supplied to Europe 7.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas,” Shahbazov said.
“The overall volume of (gas) supplies to Europe in 2022 will amount to 12 billion cubic meters” — a 31 percent increase compared to 2021, he said on Twitter.
There was also a 10 percent increase in gas production, which reached 30.6 billion cubic meters in January-August 2022, according to Shahbazov.
On July 18, European Commission President Ursula von der signed a memorandum of understanding with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Baku, to close a deal to double imports of natural gas from Azerbaijan to the EU, to deliver at least 20 billion cubic meters of gas annually by 2027.
In order to reach that level of trade, additional investment will be required to the already existing Southern Gas Corridor, a series of pipelines from the Caspian Sea to Southeastern Europe, running through Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and Greece.
Human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have criticized the deal, saying it will only enrich the autocratic regime, “notorious for rampant corruption and the repression of all opposition in the country.”
Last week, tensions peaked when von der Leyen proposed that member states agree a price cap on gas imported from Russia.
Source:gerceknews
