Aliyev: Azerbaijan to increase gas exports, build 8 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2032

Azerbaijan will continue to increase gas supplies to Europe, expand international energy projects and accelerate investment in renewable energy, President Ilham Aliyev said.

Speaking at the opening of Baku Energy Week, Aliyev said the number of countries receiving Azerbaijani gas had risen to 16 from 12 a year earlier. Ten of them are members of the European Union, and the number will continue to grow, he said.

“Today it is difficult to imagine the European energy market without the Southern Gas Corridor,” Aliyev said.

He said Azerbaijan would increase gas production through new projects, including the Deep Gas project at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block and the Absheron field.

Aliyev said Azerbaijan, which was attracting foreign investors 30 years ago, had now itself become an investor abroad. SOCAR is currently carrying out investment projects in the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia, he said.

The president said SOCAR’s refining capacity in the Mediterranean region had increased from 13 million tonnes to 23 million tonnes following the acquisition of Italiana Petroli.

Aliyev said Azerbaijan’s gas reserves would be sufficient for at least 100 years, both for the country and for its partners. At the same time, Azerbaijan is continuing to invest heavily in green energy.

He said installed solar and wind power capacity in Azerbaijan would reach 2 GW by the end of next year and 8 GW by the end of 2032.

Aliyev added that more than 300 MW of hydropower capacity had already been commissioned in Karabakh and Eastern Zangazur.

He also said the feasibility study for the Black Sea Energy Cable project, which will connect Azerbaijan with Georgia, Romania and Hungary, was close to completion.

The president said the onshore electricity cable project along the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey-Bulgaria route was also in the implementation phase.

Speaking about transport projects, Aliyev said the East-West transport corridor was operating successfully and that the Zangazur Corridor would be built as a new branch of that route.

“The Zangazur Corridor, which will be another branch of the East-West Corridor, will definitely be constructed based on the document signed at the White House on August 8 by the president of the United States, the prime minister of Armenia and myself,” Aliyev said.

The president said Azerbaijan’s achievements in energy and transport were the result of a long-term strategy, international cooperation and active diplomacy.

“This broad format of regional cooperation was created by our resources, our initiatives and mainly our investments,” he said.

Aliyev also said oil and gas producing countries should not be criticized for having natural resources. Countries should instead be judged by how they manage revenues from those resources, he said.

The president said Azerbaijan had reduced poverty from more than 50% in the early years of independence to around 5%, kept foreign debt at just over 6% of GDP, and accumulated currency reserves that exceed foreign debt by more than 18 times.

N.Tabrizli