Launch of Serbia-Bulgaria Gas Interconnector turns Azerbaijan to trustworthy partner worldwide

Azerbaijan's strategic importance gets momentum day-by-day as its energy policy continues successfully. The opening of the Serbia-Bulgaria Gas Interconnector that was held in Nis, Serbia, on December 10, 2023, and where Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev participated, is one of the successes. With the help of the Gas Interconnector, the number of countries purchasing natural gas from Azerbaijan will reach nine, of which seven are located in Europe. Thus, Azerbaijan gradually becomes an important energy supplier on the Old Continent.

The Serbia-Bulgaria Gas Interconnector connects the Serbian Nis city with the town of Novi Iskar, located not far away from the Bulgarian capital city Sofia, and allows Serbia to access gas from Azerbaijan. Note that the construction of the Interconnector was financed by the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, and Serbia. Besides, with the launch of the Connector, Azerbaijani natural gas will flow to Serbia as well.

The gas deal between Baku and Belgrade was signed in November of the current year to purchase 400 million cubic meters of gas per year, which amounted to over 10 percent of Serbia's gas demand. Besides, it is expected that the volume of gas will increase further in the coming years. Belgrade is expected to receive the first batch of Caspian gas via Bulgaria in early 2024.

As for Bulgaria, the country has received Azerbaijani gas since 2021, and the volume of gas has increased year by year. As the president, Ilham Aliyev, said, "Our gas supplies to Bulgaria started two years ago. In 2021, 270 million cubic meters of gas were supplied. A little more than 500 million cubic meters were supplied last year. This year, this number will be close to 1 billion cubic meters.”

It is worth noting that the Interconnector enables the entire region, i.e., the Balkans, to diversify and secure their energy source. As is known, previously, countries in Europe, especially Serbia, were fully dependent on one or two sources of energy suppliers, which were not considered healthy in terms of either economic or strategic perspectives. It made them vulnerable before the risks, and European countries have been looking for ways to diversify their sources for a long time. That is why the European Commission assessed it as a project of mutual interest.

Needless to say, the main reason for Azerbaijan's success in the global energy market is being a trustworthy partner. Since Baku has always fulfilled its commitments, it is known as a predictable partner, which plays an important role in trade and business. All its partners believe in it and know that Azerbaijan will keep its promise. As is known, Azerbaijan and the European Union signed a Memorandum of Understanding on strategic partnership in the field of energy in 2022, and according to this memorandum, Azerbaijan is expected to double the volume of gas sent to Europe by 2027. Following the memorandum, Azerbaijan increased the volume of gas exported to the European market by 50 percent, and surely Azerbaijan will double the volume.

"The numbers already show that we are confidently moving towards this goal. In 2021, our gas exports to Europe were slightly more than 8 billion cubic meters and this year they will reach about 12 billion cubic meters. This accounts for 50 percent of Azerbaijan's total gas exports," President Ilham Aliyev said.

Since December 31, 2020, Azerbaijan has been supplying natural gas to Europe via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which forms the final segment of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC). TAP starts at the Turkish-Greek border and runs along 773-kilometer onshore and 105-kilometer offshore routes traversing Greece and Albania towards its final destination in Italy.

The three-segmented SGC spans seven countries and six regulatory systems, linking 11 different investors and supplying 12 different gas buyers, primarily in Europe. The main source of natural gas for the SGC is Azerbaijan’s offshore Shah Deniz field, with an estimated 1.2 trillion cubic meters of proven reserves.

Figuratively speaking, this gas pipeline should not be considered only infrastructure, but also a tie that connects different countries in different regions and brings wealth and prosperity to the regions it passes through. In addition, this tie paved roads for future cooperation as well by playing as a trust-building tool. After mega oil and gas projects, Azerbaijan launched a new project, green energy. According to the data of the World Bank, Azerbaijan is not only rich in fossil fuels but also has green energy potential. The research shows that the country has 200 GW of green energy potential and Baku intends to turn some of this potential into reality to meet its energy demands and export surplus to Europe.

“Our future plans, of course, are to further expand the geography of gas supplies and access the markets of new countries through new interconnectors in Europe. Our main goal is associated with renewable energy, as Azerbaijan has signed agreements and memoranda of understanding with investors for the establishment of 10 gigawatts of renewable energy,” President Ilham Aliyev said.

For this purpose Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary signed an “Agreement on a strategic partnership in the field of green energy development and transmission”. According to this agreement Azerbaijan will export 4 GW electricity generated from renewable source via Georgia and under the Black Sea to Europe. Besides, Baku also plans to export 1 GW green energy through Turkiye as well.

In conclusion, we can say that the mega projects, such as oil, gas, transport, and so on, proved Azerbaijan is a trustworthy partner worldwide. The green energy project will seal the belief further.