Baku. 20 February. REPORT.AZ/ The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) is a strategic energy partner of the European Union, European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources Gunther Oettinger said as part of the press conference of the fifth session of the ministers of the SGC Advisory Board in Baku.
"Natural gas in the Netherlands is decreasing year-on-year which means that we will need to import more gas. For us, the Southern Gas Corridor means a new route and new gas resources," Oettinger said.
"Today we have discussed continuation of our cooperation in other directions once the Southern Gas Corridor is built... We have one common goal - within the next decade we are planning to increase gas supplies from this area to 20-25 bn cubic meters," the European Commissioner said.
He said the signing of the joint declaration at today's session will further strengthen the mutually profitable partnership between Azerbaijan and the European Union.