President of Azerbaijan speaks at meeting of SGC Advisory Council

The 8th Ministerial Meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) Advisory Council has today been held at Gulustan Palace, Baku.

Report informs, citing AZERTAC, that President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev attended the meeting.

The head of state made a speech at the meeting.

Speech of President Ilham Aliyev

-Good morning dear friends, dear Commissioner Simson, dear Commissioner Várhelyi,

Dear guests, ladies and gentlemen.

I would like to greet all of you in Azerbaijan and express gratitude to you for visiting us.

As you know, our last year’s meeting was held through video conferencing. However, despite some concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, I am very glad that you have decided to attend the meeting in person. At the same time, I regret to say that some meeting participants have been infected and they therefore unable to attend today. I wish them good health and a speedy recovery. I am sure that Azerbaijani doctors will do everything possible to return them to normal life as soon as possible.

As I mentioned, last year’s meeting was held in the format of a video conference. Today we restored the traditional format of our interaction and of course it creates better opportunities not only to address important issues which are in front of us but at the same time, to have bilateral and multilateral contacts. Every February, we traditionally review what has been done during the previous year, and plan our future steps. I would like to say that every Advisory Council meeting was marked with some achievements. Every year we report about some achievements and we are very happy. I think, we can congratulate ourselves that this time we can report about the success of the completion of the Southern Gas Corridor project. The last day of 2020, 31 December was the day, by the way, it’s a day of the solidarity of Azerbaijanis of the world and we are very glad that this very important day for Azerbaijanis we reported about the completion of the Southern Gas Corridor, its last part TAP project. And of course, I would like to also express gratitude to all the participants of the project, first of all to European Commission. The European Commission and Azerbaijan as co-organizers and coordinators of the efforts of all the countries and companies and financial institutions at the Advisory Council meeting and throughout the year, play very important role in the implementation of the project and the fact that two commissioners are present today, speak for itself. Also, I would like to express gratitude and to convey my gratitude to President Charles Michel, for his support with respect to the energy security projects in the region. At the same time, he is the person involved now in the process of normalization of relationship between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Also, I would like first to express gratitude to the governments of the countries, members of the Southern Gas Corridor-Turkiye, Georgia and Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, Italy really worked as one team, and the coordination on the national level helped us to implement this huge project, one of the largest projects of the 21st century Southern Gas Corridor which is worth 33 billion US dollars. At the same time, of course, we couldn’t have achieved success without active participation of the companies, energy companies, construction companies investors. They are present today and, of course, their contribution was very valuable as well as the international financial institutions. The Southern Gas Corridor project is probably also one of the few projects in the modern history where all the leading financial international institutions contributed to its implementation. World Bank, EBRD, Asian Development Bank, EIB, Asian infrastructure and Investment Bank, the leading international financial institutions, provided loans, funds, for this project to be implemented. So now, we can really be proud of ourselves that this complicated from all points of view, projects have been delivered with the high level of efficiency. And of course, we need to look to the future and I am sure that during today’s session participants will discuss traditional areas of cooperation, our future plans, because as we all know demand for additional source of gas is growing. At the same time, to address issues related to renewable sources of energy, and Azerbaijan actually is doing a lot with respect to its “green energy” policy. As I said, demand for gas from new sources is growing. Azerbaijan, after the completion of the Southern Gas Corridor managed to increase its export to international markets, including, European markets. Last year Azerbaijani export of natural gas was 19 billion cubic meters, 8.5 to Turkiye, almost 7 billion to Italy and the rest to other members of the team-Georgia, Greece, Bulgaria. I am sure that as soon as our member of our team Albania completes its gas distribution network. Albania also will be a recipient of Azerbaijani gas. And also, we can underline the fact that at today’s meeting we have more countries and companies present than last year. And we have new participants and they show that Azerbaijani gas is needed for new markets. And we are ready because Azerbaijan has always been a reliable supplier of energy resources to international market. We started our oil exports since 2006, already for many years and without any disruption, without any violation of the contract, without any political agenda behind our energy policy. Our energy policy always was very open, transparent, business-and-result- oriented, and led to cooperation and mutual support. Now when I was looking at some of the latest data about the share of Azerbaijani gas on the markets of the countries, the recipients we see that some of them get about 80 percent in their gas consumption, some of them 15-20 percent and the number is growing, because we are planning to increase the production. This year definitely we will export more than last year. Of course, there is a huge potential, especially now, when the situation on the gas market is not very stable and also, the crisis are very volatile. I think we need a joint plan in our future in coordination and good spirit. How we can achieve new results? The proven gas reserves of Azerbaijan are known. It’s 2.6 trillion cubic meters, for the biggest is Shah Deniz – 1 trillion. I am sure there will be more. Because to look at our experience, with respect to oil and gas development, we always see bigger reserves and it was anticipated in the beginning of our journey due to new discoveries, and also due to new technologies. Because today, technology in this area is rapidly developing. Therefore, I am sure the proven reserves of Azerbaijani gas will be even more. Shah Deniz as I said, already is the main gas field in Azerbaijan and so far, the only contributor to the Southern Gas Corridor but other projects are also in the process. One of the biggest gas condensate field of Absheron hopefully will start production very soon, maybe less than in one year.

And it will increase and it will be done in stages. “Absheron” stage 1 will produce 1.5 billion cubic meters, not a big amount, but I think it’s substantial for some countries. And that can also satisfy our own growing demands and also provide export opportunities. Another big field, which we hope that will also produce good results is “Babak” with estimated reserves of 400 billion cubic meters. “Umid” at least 200 billion cubic meters. And of course, we have big expectations from one of the oldest oil and gas fields, Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli. Its deep gas section, which I hope will soon be also in operation and it’s also hundreds of billions of cubic meters of gas, and can be extracted I think within a short period of time. So, this is today our potential and having diversified gas transportation network connecting us to four countries, to four our neighbors. Of course, after completion of the main export with Southern Gas Corridor, I think our plans will be implemented. But of course, we need to continue this team work. Southern Gas corridor project is over, but our job continues. I am sure that in a good spirit we will achieve new results. I would like to say that our domestic demands are also growing, first of all, due to the growing population. Azerbaijan’s demographic situation is very positive. At the same time, growing industry. Last year we had a record figure of growth in non-energy based industry. That sector of our industry grew almost 20 percent, and of course, we will need more gas for our own demands. And also, we will need hopefully very soon additional volumes of gas to gasify the area which has been liberated during the Patriotic war of 2020. The huge area is totally destroyed, is in total devastation. All infrastructure is destroyed, it is the area of more than ten thousand square kilometers. So, you can imagine what a challenge is in front of us. And of course, we are planning to return our former refugees. We will be starting from this year. Therefore, we will need an additional gas for our own consumption. Here we come to a very important point of our concentration on renewable sources of energy. Azerbaijan by the way, is one of the few countries of the world which exports crude oil, natural gas, petro-chemicals, oil products and electric energy. And electric energy potential of Azerbaijan, was mainly oriented for domestic consumption. We largely invested in electric infrastructure, and I can say that, based on Davos World Economic Forum assessment, the accessibility to energy in Azerbaijan is with this rating we are number two in the world. So, we invested big amount of money and actually modernized almost completely our electric energy lines and created new power stations. For instance, very soon we will inaugurate a new power station in Gobu district of Baku with the capacity of almost 400 megawatts. And last month in this hall, we celebrated a groundbreaking ceremony of the first renewable source of energy project, the wind power station for 240 megawatts which will be completely financed by a foreign investor, company well-known in energy market ACWA-Power company from Saudi Arabia. Also, I would like to say that our electric energy is needed for the regional markets and probably, we can go now even further, now to Europe, because today we export electric energy to four neighboring countries - Turkiye, Russia, Georgia and Iran. The capacity is growing. So, the more renewable sources of energy we have in Azerbaijan, the more we will save gas for export. For instance, the power station, which I did mention, wind power station will save us about 200 or 300 billion cubic meters of gas, which is a good amount and can make a serious change for those countries which do not have big consumption. So, our “green energy” strategy is now in the final stage of not only assessment, but also planning. We have a special program for liberated territories. Our minister of energy together with leading companies, international companies already prepared a conceptual outlook for “green energy” zone in Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur. We already made the international assessment of the potential of renewable sources in Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur and preliminary figures are very promising. It’s about 7,200 megawatt potential in wind energy, and more than 2,000 megawatt potential in solar energy. By the way, I also would like to inform you that our strategic partner in oil and gas - BP shows big interest in working on the liberated territories, particularly, in the district of Jabrayil. We are already in the phase of negotiations with BP on the construction of the renewable source of energy there- more than 200 megawatts. I would also like to say that our minister of energy now is in the phase of active negotiations with the leading international energy companies with respect to investment and we are very enthusiastic about that. I think that can be not only part of our internal strategy of green energy development in Azerbaijan, that can create an additional source of export reviews and also will be helpful in both countries which import sources of energy. Also, we have a special program of assessment of the Caspian Sea and initial figures show the technical potential. I’d like to underline the technical potential of the Caspian Sea is more than 150,000 megawatts We have already got certain initial proposals from leading international energy companies with respect to development of this potential. I think it will be very natural, because, first, Azerbaijan already for many years proved itself as a reliable source of energy. As I said, we export all kinds of energy resources. We have diversified electric lines within the country and connecting us with all our neighbors. We have export markets just next door, and growing export markets. For instance, countries like Turkiye with growing economy, with growing population, I think it’s a major market for us. Also is Iran with the same growing population. I know about some plans with respect to building some electric lines under the Black Sea, connecting central Europe with our region and Azerbaijan as a supplier of electric energy with Georgia also can be a part of that. So, really we have a big potential here. We are working very actively. We are doing our homework. At the same time, I am glad that it was agreed between the European Commission and our Ministry of Energy to have a special session devoted to that. Really it is worth praising. In other words, the Southern Gas Corridor is done, but our work continues. We need to continue to work as one team. I once again express satisfaction that we have more participants this time. Issues related to energy security, and energy diversification do not need to be proven as important. We all understand it. Of course, the country like Azerbaijan with huge resources of oil and gas and renewable potential, we understand our responsibility. And I can tell you that we will act in a responsible way in the future, in order to create better opportunities. Also I would like to say that energy policy which we have goes even beyond the issues of energy diversification and energy security, because it creates new links between the countries. And it helps development of relationship and it helps to increase the level of mutual trust between all the countries involved in this process. So there are so many multiple positive results after what we have been doing. Again, when we started this journey it was not very clear how it will go. We entered the new format of cooperation with countries which some of them we never had this format of cooperation with. But it was success, because we were sincere, open and honest and we had the same goal. So, the goal is here, the projects can be different but the spirit of cooperation I am sure we will help us to achieve all what we planned. And once again, thank you for being with us, and wish the Advisory Council meeting success. Thank you.

04.02.2022

12:01

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is taking part in the 8th meeting of ministers within the framework of the Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor.

Report informs, citing the press service of the President of Azerbaijan, that the event kicked off in the Gulustan Palace in Baku.