Discussions focus on Southern Gas Corridor

The Southern Gas Corridor will start to pump gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe in 2020, the attendees of the third meeting of the SGC advisory council in Baku announced on February 23. However, there are some risks that may affect the planned schedule.

The chain of the gas pipeline from Caspian Shah Deniz field to the ending point in southern Italy is progressing well, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev said in the meeting.

The South Caucasus pipeline (SCPX) will be connected to the Trans-Anatolian pipeline (Tanap) that will deliver gas to Greece border and link to Trans-Adriatic pipeline (TAP) — the final section of the project, crossing Greece and Albania on the way to Italy.

The Shah Deniz 2 development project that will produce additional 16bn m³/yr is about 90 per cent done and the SCPX is about 80 per cent done. Lagging behind is the Trans-Anatolian pipeline in Turkey — at 65 per cent, and TAP — at 34 per cent. “We can witness great progress since the second meeting in February last year,” he said.

However the slow progress of the construction in Italy raises concerns of possible delays for gas supply to Europe. It was expressed by Azerbaijan Energy Minister Natik Aliev, during his meeting with US envoy for energy Diplomacy Robin Dunnigan. “TAP has experienced several difficulties with construction. However achievement of SGC goal requires to completion all the segments of the project in time”, he said.

The main obstacle for TAP progressed has been resolved, transplant of 200 olive trees will start next week, the Italian minister for Economic Development Carlo Calenda told journalists in Baku while the European Commission’s Maros Sefcovic told them that he will visit Italy for talks on TAP with the governor of Italy’s Puglia region.