Day: January 17, 2024

Additional gas volumes to Europe from Azerbaijan could help to ease the cost-of-living crisis, noted Tatiana Khanberg, Director of Strategic Communications and Membership at the International Gas Union (IGU), according to Azerbaijan in Focus, reporting Trend.

“Europe is not out of the woods in the energy crisis, and so far, luckily the weather has been on its side. Mild winter temperatures and high storage levels cooled the prices from last the peaks of the last two years; however, the market fundamentals remain very tight and this equilibrium is fragile. The additional pipeline and gas volumes through the Southern Gas Corridor as suggested, would provide greater energy security, while improving affordability and an improved flexibility – which is always positive for the market. Additional gas volumes to Europe from Azerbaijan could help to ease the cost-of-living crisis and support the re-opening of the industry which had to close due to the earlier price crunches,” said Khanberg.

She pointed out that increased pipeline capacity also reduces the challenge of bottlenecking, which has plagued Europe after its split from Russian pipelines.

“The European energy market will continue to evolve, as policy promotes decarbonization needed to meet ambitious climate goals. Natural gas infrastructure is integral to enabling an affordable, secure, and sustainable — in every sense of the word — energy transition. Natural gas is critical for maintaining energy system stability, and it is the best option for meeting the increasing need for flexibility to integrate the planned tripling of renewables. As the gas industry too is working on decarbonisation, gas infrastructure also provides a major vehicle for delivering low and zero-carbon energy as the shares of renewable and decarbonised gases increases.

More gas infrastructure is needed for a secure energy transition, and it is good to see that perhaps the lessons of the last two years are bearing fruit of positive developments, like this one,” added Khanberg.

In an interview with local TV channels on January 10, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said that so far, Georgia, Türkiye, Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Hungary have already joined Azerbaijan’s gas system, various interconnectors have been created, and the driving force of all these interconnectors has been the Southern Gas Corridor.

“Because if we hadn’t come up with this initiative in good time, and not only with the initiative, if we hadn’t implemented it, of course, there would be no talk of any interconnector today. All these interconnectors, including Greece-Bulgaria and Bulgaria-Serbia, Romania and Hungary, are branches of the Southern Gas Corridor. So, today eight countries are buying Azerbaijan’s gas, six of them are European countries. The number of these countries will further increase in the future. Because we are now involved in talks with several European countries, and I can say that the negotiations are at an important stage.

The demand is there and will continue to grow, we have the resources, the “Shahdeniz” gas field is the largest gas-condensate field in the world. We started last year, but 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas will be extracted from the Absheron gas field this year. This is an additional resource for us. After that, at least such a task has been set before the end of this year, by December, I hope that first gas will be produced from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field as part of a project called “Deep Gas”. The potential is quite immense there too.

We have other projects and the second phase of the “Absheron” gas field – a decision must also be made on that as well, i.e. an investment decision. If this decision is made, and I am sure it will be, the volume of annual production from “Absheron” will be 5 billion cubic meters. This is a very high figure. Apart from that, “Shafag”, “Asiman”, “Umid”, “Babek”, “Nakhchivan”, “Karabakh” – preparation work is underway on all these fields, and their resource base is quite large.

In other words, when I once said that Azerbaijan would continue to be an important partner even after 100 years, I meant exactly that, and today it is coming true. I must also state that the Southern Gas Corridor is now operating at full capacity, and if we want to send additional gas volumes through this corridor, it must be expanded. Of course, additional funds should be invested there, but it can be expanded by means of pump stations, and there is demand. In principle, the creation of a new gas infrastructure in Azerbaijan can be considered in the future, and we are also considering this,” said President Ilham Aliyev.

The post IGU: Additional gas volumes to Europe from Azerbaijan could help to ease cost-of-living crisis appeared first on Azerbaijan In Focus.

Editor-in-chief of the La Gazette du Caucase online newspaper based in Paris, renowned French journalist Jean-Michel Brun has published an article about the upcoming presidential election in Azerbaijan, according to Azerbaijan in Focus, reporting Trend.

The article reads as follows:

On December 7, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, decided to bring forward the date of the presidential election scheduled for 2025 to February 7, 2024.

A decision that has not failed to provoke comment, especially in the French media, and not always kindly.

What is the reason behind this early election?

Since October 2023, the country’s situation has changed radically. Occupied for almost 30 years by Armenian forces, Azerbaijan regained its territorial integrity following a 44-day war in 2020, and a blitzkrieg in 2023 that liberated the town of Khankendi, where the last Armenian separatist fighters had been concentrated.

This is the first time since the invasion of 1993 that Azerbaijan has regained sovereignty over its entire territory. The country is thus, in President Ilham Aliyev’s own words, entering a “new era”, which in his view justifies the need to set the record straight.

President Ilham Aliyev also mentioned a second, equally symbolic reason. It will be 20 years since he took office. His re-election is hardly in doubt, as Ilham Aliyev’s popularity is currently at an all-time high. His handling of the conflict, which took everyone by surprise, including the Armenians, and ended in a resounding military victory, is approved by over 75 percent of Azerbaijanis. A stroll through the streets of Baku in recent months was enough to witness the spontaneous outpouring of popular jubilation, fuelled as it was by the ambitious program to rebuild the towns destroyed under Armenian occupation.

The return of the former inhabitants of Karabakh to their native lands has already begun and, for the first time since independence, all regions of the country will be able to take part in the ballot. Former refugees who were expelled from Karabakh in 1993 and who have now returned to Shusha, Aghdam, and Fuzuli in particular, will be able to take part in the ballot from the liberated territories. The fact that the first election to be held throughout the country is a presidential election is naturally a powerful symbol for the Azerbaijani nation.

Another reason for Azerbaijanis to support the outgoing president is that the situation in the region is far from stabilized, and his determination and strategic sense make him, in their eyes, the best candidate to negotiate a lasting peace with the Armenians and the main regional players.

The armed separatist groups that were able to escape from Karabakh and find refuge in Armenia are continuing their training there, with a view to the resumption of hostilities they are calling for, even if it means overthrowing the Pashinyan government, whose “defeatism” they criticize. France continues to lead the way in military and financial support for the Armenian nationalists, in particular with its promise to deliver heavy armaments to Armenia. The Azerbaijanis, who have witnessed the strategic skill of their leader, will undoubtedly renew their confidence in him to protect the country and ensure stability in the Caucasus, to show no weakness or procrastination in the face of potential external threats, and to further strengthen the country’s military power. The state is expected to invest over 500 million euros in the defense industry by 2024.

President Ilham Aliyev’s other success is economic. Azerbaijan is now recognized as a reliable energy partner by the EU, and an ambitious energy transition plan is being developed, notably through the construction of “smart”, resource-efficient cities in the liberated Karabakh.

Other projects await the future president of the republic, such as the standard of living and the international cultural influence of Azerbaijan, a priority for the country’s authorities.

According to the schedule, the election campaign begins 23 days before polling day and ends 24 hours before polling day. It began on January 15, 2024, and will end on February 6 at 8:00 a.m. The election will take place on February 7, based on a two-round first-past-the-post system for an unlimited seven-year term.

More than 17,500 observers will be accredited to monitor the presidential elections, Mazahir Panahov, Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission, told journalists. He stressed that there would be three observers in each of the 6,300 polling stations: “The more observers, the better”.

The post Jean-Michel Brun: Upcoming presidential election in Azerbaijan is a powerful symbol of country’s integrity and sovereignty appeared first on Azerbaijan In Focus.