There are definite reasons to be looking at expanding capacity of Southern Gas Corridor - Laura Lochman

By Trend

There are definite reasons to be looking at expanding capacity of Southern Gas Corridor, Laura Lochman, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Diplomacy in the Bureau of Energy Resources at the U.S. Department of State said in an exclusive interview with Trend.

“It is my first visit to Baku and it has been a wonderful few days. I am here to attend the Baku Energy Forum, first time in the three years that’s taking place. So, I am very happy to be a part of that and to talk about the very important role that Azerbaijan plays in energy security in the region, as well as in Europe. We’re celebrating 30 years of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and the Republic of Azerbaijan. So, this is a momentous occasion in that sense. We’ve long collaborated on issues related to energy, as well as trade and investment, broader economic issues. We in the U.S. are a committed partner to Azerbaijan on energy and economy issues and we have definite room to deepen that collaboration in relation to meeting current supply challenges, as well as looking to the future in developing renewable sources of energy,” she said.

Lochman pointed out that the Southern Gas Corridor is a significant accomplishment and the U.S. was supportive of this project from the very beginning and that’s an excellent example of collaboration among the regional partners and also between governments and private sector.

“So, we’re now reaping the benefits of having this infrastructure in place, which is significantly helping European regional energy security now. There are definite reasons to be looking at expanding the capacity of the Southern Gas Corridor to meet the additional needs of the European continent. Diversification of all sources of energy is critical. We don’t want to be reliant on a single producer of any form of energy. The European demand is currently there for additional supplies of natural gas from Azerbaijan through the Southern Gas Corridor. European member states will be making that interest known, are making an interest known to your companies here, your government here. That will lead to increased financing and the actual execution of projects to expand capacity,” she said.

Talking about Azerbaijan’s renewable energy potential, Lochman recalled that President Ilham Aliyev was saying in this remarks that there is a tremendous potential for offshore wind here in Azerbaijan.

“I think he was referring to 157 gigawatts, which is a massive potential for wind power. You also have solar potential as well and that can be used in addition to produce hydrogen eventually. So, there are many opportunities and the U.S. companies have quite a bit of experience and expertise in these technologies. We’ll be making known from the U.S. government side, we’ll make sure that they know what opportunities are here and the advantage that they could provide to this development,” she explained.

Lochman also touched upon the ongoing energy crisis in Europe and the steps, which are being taken to mitigate it.

“Globally, we’ve started to see higher prices for energy and less supply than demand starting actually in the fall of last year due to the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. And of course, that was exacerbated by Russia’s war against Ukraine. At this point, Europe is working very steadily to try to decrease their dependence on Russian coal, as well as oil and gas. So, the need is great and the U.S. is contributing in talking with Europeans about methods to reduce demand for fossil fuels through use of efficiency, smart thermometers, heat pumps, things of that nature, so you don’t need as much natural gas. Then we’re looking with suppliers around the world to what the sources of additional gas could be to Europe, because they will have to replace a good bit of supply,” she said.

Lochman pointed out that President Biden made a commitment to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in March that the U.S. could help facilitate 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe this year, in 2022.

“A good part of that will come from U.S. natural gas and LNG producers. Other sources from around the world will be aggregated to that so that we meet 15 billion cubic meters this year. We’ve committed to increasing that over the next few years to 50 billion cubic meters a year. That’s is the commitment that our president made to the EU,” she concluded.