9 december 2020 в 18:41

Southern Gas Corridor

Crossing seven countries and stretching across 3,500 km, the Southern Gas Corridor is one of the most complex gas value chains ever developed.

The European Union’s strategic concept of the Southern Gas Corridor as a gas supply route independent from transit states became a thing of the past when the Nabucco project was abandoned in 2012.

The Southern Gas Corridor is currently a system of 3 complementary gas pipeline projects, each at a different stage of implementation, controlled by Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Involving over a dozen major energy companies, it is made up of several separate energy projects representing a total investment of approximately $40 billion:

the Shah Deniz 2 development – drilling wells and producing gas offshore in the Caspian Sea
expansion of the natural gas processing plant at the Sangachal Terminal on the Caspian Sea
expansion of the Italian gas transmission network
possibilities for further connection to the gas networks of South Eastern, Central and Western European countries

3 pipelines:

South Caucasus Pipeline (SCPX) – Azerbaijan, Georgia
Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) – Turkey
Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) – Greece, Albania, Italy

These projects allow above all the advancement of Azerbaijan’s vital interests, namely the launch of gas exports to Turkey and the EU. Turkey views the Southern Gas Corridor as one of the projects which improve its energy security and which might help it become a gas hub.

The pipeline is also promoting the gasification of the Western Balkans, currently dependent on locally-sourced coal. This network of pipelines would ensure 20% of European Union’s demand.