Can Azerbaijani gas bring Europe out of crisis?

Russia with Europe between gas As the crisis deepens, the name of Azerbaijan gas as a country that can increase its supply.

Thus, the Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kirill Petkov said in an interview with the French newspaper Monde on April 27 that, Europe Union of Azerbaijan gashopes to transfer to Bulgaria soon

Gas supplied to Bulgaria Russia cut last week, citing the country’s reluctance to pay in rubles.

But can Azerbaijan respond to the call of the Bulgarian government to provide this country with emergency gas?

Official Baku did not comment on this.

At present, Azerbaijan supplies up to 300 million cubic meters of gas a year to Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian problem

In Bulgaria, Martin Vladimirov, an energy analyst at the Center for the Study of Democracy, says that, In case of an urgent increase in the volume of gas supplied by official Baku to Bulgaria, it is political The decision will be made – because selling gas to Bulgaria via the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline – TAP does not cost Azerbaijan:

“Azerbaijan only Europe Union and Of the United States political can supply additional gas to Bulgaria under pressure. Because Azerbaijan supplies its gas to Greece as it does now and It is more interesting to sell to Italy, because Italy and Greece gives more money. High-level US last year and Such talks were held with EU officials, but to no avail. In order for this to happen now, Azerbaijan needs to change the existing agreement with official Baku on terms that do not benefit it political Negotiations must be held. “

It is not officially announced how much gas Azerbaijan sells to EU countries.

But Azerbaijan already has an agreement with Bulgaria – this is the gas that will be supplied through the Greek-Bulgarian interconnector, which will be connected to TAP.

This is stated on the website of the project that, The belt may be ready by the end of June this year.

When the pipeline was launched, Azerbaijan was the first country in Bulgaria to receive an annual 1 billion cubic meters of gas will begin to give.

But a Bulgarian analyst Martin Vladimirov he says that, this project will still take time:

“Now there is one step that Bulgaria can take at best – to accelerate the construction of the interconnector. But that, I don’t think it will happen sooner than the end of autumn this year. This is the most optimistic forecast that, Construction will be completed by July this year. Then test and other procedures should be performed. There is another point that can help to meet Bulgaria’s needs urgently – Azerbaijani gas can be sent as soon as the test is over, and other paperwork can be awaited. This will help Bulgaria that, Let’s close the gas crisis created by Russia to some extent. “

Although only 2 percent…

But how much gas can Azerbaijan offer against the background of growing European demand?

President Ilham Aliyev also touched upon this issue in his speech at ADA University on April 30 that, he hopes for alternative energy sources:

“As I said, this will be partly due to the optimization of domestic gas losses. Part of the natural gas is solar and will be replaced by wind energy, and the other part will be due to new production. We expect production from new fields next year. Already in the Absheron field 1.5 billion cubic meters of additional gas. We also have expectations from other fields. “

The TAP-Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, which carries Azerbaijani gas to Europe, will be launched this year Januarystarted from. Its transmittance 10 billion cubic meters. This is about 2% of Europe’s gas needs. But president Ilham Aliyev said on April 30 that, TAP capacity by installing additional pumps 20 billion cubic meters.

For Europe after Russia’s attack on Ukraine Russia is looking for new energy sources to reduce its dependence on gas and Negotiations with Azerbaijan have also accelerated in this context. President Ilham Aliyev said on April 30 that, Azerbaijan has never intended to compete with Russia.

According to official information according to, Azerbaijan produced about 44 billion cubic meters of gas last year, of which about 43% was exported. (Radio Liberty)