The discussion took place within the conference «Azerbaijan-Italy: The way to strengthen multidimensional strategic partnership».
During the conference, the Italian minister highly appreciated the role of TAP in strengthening bilateral energy cooperation, the energy supply of his country and its position in the European gas market.
In this regard, he underlined the importance of starting activities to expand the pipeline.
In turn, Minisater Shahbazov briefed on the growing importance of natural gas supply through TAP in energy cooperation with Italy, a reliable and largest trading partner of Azerbaijan, in addition to the crude oil supply.
Noting that 10 billion m3 of Azerbaijani gas have already been delivered to Europe through TAP, Shahbazov stated that the availability of large gas resources, the important role of gas in energy transition and the growing interest in diversification of gas supply sources allow TAP to expand
Azerbaijan's Energy Minister said:
- If the current growth rate continues, we expect that our gas exports to Italy will reach 9.5 billion m3 under long-term and spot contracts by the end of this year
- The expansion of TAP can provide more natural gas not only to Italy but also to other European countries
- Therefore, we invite interested parties to take an active part in this process
He called the Italian companies to evaluate the possibilities of this cooperation, emphasizing that the use of offshore wind energy and green hydrogen exports to Europe are also on the agenda.
Azerbaijan is a major supplier of energy to Italy.
The 2 countries' trade turnover was $9.6 billion in 2021, with Italy also being Azerbaijan's main trade partner.
Italy was Azerbaijan's top trade partner in January-February 2022, with a total trade turnover of $3.1 billion between the 2 countries
