Azerbaijan’s energy ambitions: Baku summit highlights Southern Gas Corridor and green transition

euronews (in English)

In this special edition of Energy Frontiers, we’re in Baku for exclusive insights into Azerbaijan’s evolving role in energy security, renewables, and its growing partnerships with Europe and beyond.

Transcript

00:00Hello everyone, I'm Rebecca McLaughlin-Eastam and welcome to a special edition of Energy Frontiers

00:06where we bring you exclusive conversations with the most influential people in the global energy sector.

00:12Today, as you can see, you join me from Azerbaijan's capital, Baku,

00:16where the 11th Ministerial Meeting of the Southern Gas Corridors Advisory Council

00:20alongside the 3rd Ministerial Meeting of the Green Energy Advisory Council has taken place.

00:30Azerbaijan is leveraging its strategic location to become not only a supplier

00:42but a critical connector between energy-rich regions and energy-dependent markets.

00:48With its southern gas corridor transporting billions of cubic metres of natural gas to 12 countries,

00:5510 of them in Europe and 8 of them member states,

00:57the nation is also committed to supplying green energy to Europe.

01:02On the sidelines of ministerial meetings in Baku's Golestan Palace,

01:06Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Parvez Shabazov shed light on the country's ambition

01:11to become a regional energy hub and a reliable energy partner in turbulent geopolitical times.

01:19Minister, thank you very much for speaking to me today.

01:21Thank you very much for inviting me.

01:24Minister, let me start by asking you about Azerbaijan's plans for expanding capacity

01:29of the Southern Gas Corridor and further enhancing energy security to Europe.

01:35The Southern Gas Corridor project has been, from the very beginning,

01:39designed in a way that it can be expanded.

01:43Of course, we need more investment and financing.

01:46And we need, of course, the long-term contractual arrangements for this.

01:53And, of course, as the most recipients of the natural gas from Azerbaijan are European countries,

02:05we need also the close involvement and support of the European Union and European Commission.

02:11We would like also to have the access to the European Union programs and funds

02:20that are available for the energy security and also the energy transition.

02:28Well, let me pick up on that, because may I ask you how you're balancing your energy portfolio,

02:32as you say, marrying the two, the traditional oil and gas, the fossil fuels, with renewables,

02:37whilst also remaining committed to mitigating climate change and delivering an energy transition.

02:43Yeah, a very good question.

02:44Actually, we have planned 10 power stations for wheat and solar until 2027.

02:55And the installed capacity of the renewables in the overall share in the generation of electricity in Azerbaijan

03:06will get already by 2027 more than 33%.

03:12But it is only for the domestic use.

03:16We have additional projects to export green energy to our long-standing traditional partners in Europe.

03:25Picking up on that, we can refer to the Caspian Black Sea European Green Corridor, of course.

03:30What might be a status report? How is it going?

03:33So it is Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania, Hungary.

03:37And the European Commission has been with us all the time from the very beginning.

03:42So it is something that also should bring more energy security and energy transition to Europe.

03:52We have already established a joint company in Bucharest.

03:58The name is Keco.

04:00And this company has already started its activities.

04:04The feasibility study of this project is already at the final stage.

04:09And we expect that it will open the way for the taking decision on investment decision on this project

04:20and start tendering this project.

04:24You've touched upon some of the agreements, the collaborations that you have with other nations, EU and beyond.

04:29What does the roadmap look like for partnerships beyond 2025?

04:33We have another project which actually started through the COP29 when the leaders of three countries,

04:43Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, came together, signed intergovernmental agreement

04:49about connection of Azerbaijan with the Central Asia for the first time in the history.

04:56Even being the parts of the Soviet Union, we have never been connected through the electricity and powertures measurements.

05:06There are plenty of projects and most of them always either born here

05:13within the Southern Gas Corridor and Green Energy Advisory Council meetings

05:20or broadly discussed in the framework of these events.

05:25Minister, it's been a pleasure. Thank you very much for your time.

05:27Thank you. Thank you very much.

05:30I also had the opportunity to sit down with the EU's Commissioner for Energy and Housing

05:35to discuss everything from energy security to supply diversification

05:39and, of course, the all-important transition to renewables.

05:42Commissioner Dan Jørgensen is the co-chair of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council.

05:53And when we met in Baku, I began by asking him what was top of his priority list

05:58and how he wanted his tenure to be defined,

06:02given the challenging times Europe was facing with energy security.

06:06We don't want to be dependent on fossil fuels, especially gas from Russia.

06:10We want to be 100% independent of that.

06:14We can no longer be in a situation where we indirectly help finance Prusen's war.

06:19So for us, it's very, very important to have good friends and partners that can help us.

06:25As European countries rapidly diversified their energy sources,

06:30natural gas became central to energy security discussions.

06:34While the advantages of the transition fuel

06:37include helping to meet rising demand and emitting less CO2 than coal and oil,

06:43challenges like infrastructure bottlenecks and managing price volatility

06:47remain top of mind for European leaders.

06:50There's no doubt that gas is also going to be important for us in Europe for some years to come.

06:58We need to find a balance because on one hand,

07:00we are obviously in the middle of a transition.

07:02We want to move away from fossil fuels, including gas.

07:06On the other hand, we also know that that is not something we can do from one day till the next.

07:10And we have people in Europe that are having problems being able to afford their energy bills.

07:18So 46 million people last year were not able to adequately heat their homes.

07:23So we need to help them.

07:24And one of the ways to do that is bring down the prices on gas.

07:28Why is it at the same time becoming independent of Russian gas?

07:32Why is it at the same time staying on course for the green transition?

07:36Because climate change has not become a smaller problem.

07:39That's also become a bigger problem.

07:40So, yeah, it is a tall order.

07:42But that is why meetings like these are extremely important.

07:46Well, that is a wrap of this special edition of Energy Frontiers

07:50brought to you from the heart of Baku.

07:52I'll see you again next time.

07:53Until then, take care and goodbye.

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