The Southern Gas Corridor from Azerbaijan did not give gas to Europe and Georgia

Gas supplies via the Southern Gas Corridor from Azerbaijan to Europe have decreased this year. On the one hand, the country's fuel production is limited. On the other hand, there were failures in the Caspian Sea, and the supplies themselves depend on orders from European companies.

For eight months of this year, gas supplies via the Southern Gas Corridor from Azerbaijan to Europe have decreased. This is evidenced by the data of the platform of the GTS operators of the EU ENTSOG countries.

So, if 7.98 billion cubic meters were supplied along the route from January 1 to August 26, 2024, then in the same period of this year — 250 million cubic meters less — 7.73 billion cubic meters.

It is known that for two weeks in January the export of Caspian gas was reduced due to problems with the gas pipeline in the Caspian Sea. Also, European customers could reduce requests for import volumes.

This year, the supply of Azerbaijani gas to Georgia. The Ministry of Energy of the country reported that imports of Caspian fuel decreased by 18% in the first half of the year, or 200 million cubic meters, to 1.1 billion cubic meters.

Where supplies have increased is to Turkey. However, a little. According to the Turkish regulator EPDK, in six months the export of Caspian gas in Turkey added almost 2% or a little more than 100 million cubic meters. Total deliveries amounted to 5.79 billion cubic meters.

If the Southern Gas Corridor goes from Turkey to Greece, then from Turkey has gas exports to Bulgaria and beyond. However, according to the regulator, this is already fuel supplied by the state-owned company Botas. It has increased deliveries this year from 1.16 billion cubic meters to 1.25 billion cubic meters.

In such a situation, Azerbaijan continues to declare that it will be able to increase fuel exports in the coming years.

"Relatively recently, at Caspian Energy Week, I announced in my comments... that we plan to increase natural gas production by 8 billion cubic meters by 2030. So, if we export 25 billion cubic meters today, our exports will amount to about 33 billion cubic meters," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in July, Interfax reported.

According to him, Baku has proposals from several members of the European Union.

"We evaluate these proposals in terms of market availability and, of course, commercial conditions. Today we supply gas to 12 countries. 10 of them are European countries, including eight are members of the European Union. Therefore, the European Union called Azerbaijan a reliable partner and a pan—European gas supplier," the Azerbaijani president said.

Earlier, experts noted that so far there is only one project in Azerbaijan, thanks to which the country can increase production in the near future — Absheron by French TotalEnergies. It will give an opportunity to increase production in the next two to three years, but by 3-4 billion cubic meters per year. At the same time, the issue of investments in the expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is already operating at a capacity that exceeds the design of 10 billion cubic meters, has not yet been resolved.