Azerbaijani president: Our gas strategy was very clear and open

Well, of course our gas strategy was very clear and open, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with Italy's Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper on December 15, Report informs via Azertag.

“And for many years we did a lot in Azerbaijan and working with the partners in order to build this important project which is considered to be one of the biggest infrastructure projects in 21st century. The Southern Gas Corridor 3,500 km from Baku to Italy going under the Adriatic Sea, going through the high mountains. It is very complicated project from technical point of view and of course very costly. Azerbaijan took the main financial burden in all the four segments of the Southern Gas Corridor. And prior to the full completion of the project last December we already signed contracts with consumers and our gas was contracted. During this so called gas crisis, problem with the price, our consumers didn’t feel any changes.

If we talk about our future plans of course there is a possibility to increase the output and to increase the export. But that will depend, of course, on the demand from the European consumers. The European Commission was assisting us in that process. We regularly convene in Baku the Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor which is chaired by representatives of the European Union and Azerbaijan. And the next session will take place next February where we address all the issues and plan our future steps. It is a big group of companies, banks and countries. Now the team is growing because we became already supplier to Europe. Starting from 1 January we supplied 7.2 billion cubic meters of gas to Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, next year it will be 9, in 2023 it will be at least 11. So, it is a serious increase. But in order to increase the production we need, of course, to invest and in order to do that we need to have contracts with consumers. So the contracts first, investments second and gas third. This is the consequence of the stages of the process. But we are ready, as you said. We have future deposits, brand new modern infrastructure, with potential interconnectors to other destinations in Europe. You mentioned Balkans and I also would add Central Europe. And that will be the diversification of supplies for us and diversification for consumers,” the president said.