The European Commission has signed an MoU with Azerbaijan to double imports of Azeri natural gas to at least 20 billion cubic metres a year by 2027 through the Trans Adriatic Pipeline.
A view of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline. Credit: Trans Adriatic Pipeline official website
The European Commission has signed an MoU with Azerbaijan to double imports of Azeri natural gas to at least 20 billion cubic metres a year by 2027 through the Trans Adriatic Pipeline.
“Today, with this new memorandum of understanding, we are opening a new chapter in our energy cooperation with Azerbaijan, a key partner in our efforts to move away from Russian fossil fuels,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday.
She said the European Union is seeking to double gas imports from Azerbaijan as it seeks non-Russian suppliers after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The Azeri gas imports will already increase to 12bcm next year, which “will help compensate for cuts in supplies of Russian gas and contribute significantly to Europe’s security of supply,” she added.
The Southern Gas Corridor transporting Azeri gas to the EU has been operational since 2020.
Natural gas supplies have emerged as a weapon between Russia and Europe since Moscow’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency Director Fatih Birol warned on Monday that Europe’s efforts to diversify suppliers will not be enough to get it through winter without Russian gas, and urged immediate efforts to cut demand.
“It is categorically not enough to just rely on gas from non-Russian sources – these supplies are simply not available in the volumes required to substitute for missing deliveries from Russia,” Birol wrote in an article published by the IEA.
“This will be the case even if gas supplies from Norway and Azerbaijan flow at maximum capacity, if deliveries from North Africa stay close to last year’s levels, if domestic gas production in Europe continues to follow recent trends, and if inflows of LNG [liquefied natural gas] increase at a similar record rate as they did in the first half of this year.”
Related: LNG Regasification in Europe
