Jonathan Elkind: 'Azerbaijan plays an essential role in Europe's energy security' 

"The delivery of Azerbaijani natural gas from the Shah Deniz field to Italy is of great importance. In general, this country plays an important role in solving the energy crisis in Europe," Jonathan Elkind, a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, said at a round table held for journalists, Report informs.

According to him, Europe used to import 155 billion cubic meters of gas per year from Russia, which was very important for a number of countries, such as Germany, because many industrial enterprises in this country operated with this fuel imported at a lower price.

Jonathan Elkind said that the interruptions and problems in supply caused a sharp increase in natural gas prices: "Today, Norway is an important gas supplier in Europe. However, during this period, Europe urgently needed an alternative fuel source, and Azerbaijan played its role here."

"Indeed, the volume of natural gas transported from Azerbaijan is not as large as that from Russia," Mr Elkind said. "But there are opportunities to further expand the production base and develop fields to increase the production."

Today, Europe still faces the energy crisis caused by Russia's intervention in Ukraine, and its consequences are felt worldwide: "In fact, this factor has led to the global crisis. That is, the consequences of the crisis are felt not only on the European continent but also around the world, where the prices of natural gas and energy resources have sharply increased. Apart from oil and natural gas, other sectors of the economy were affected too. For example, to the supply of grain and other food products. As a whole, Azerbaijan is playing a great and very important role in solving the energy crisis."