(Read the full article on report.az)

Gas supplies via the Southern Gas Corridor from Azerbaijan to Europe are going at almost maximum design capacity, REPORT informs referring to EADaily.

On the one hand, in 2021, gas pumping was planned at half capacity. On the other hand, negotiations with Turkey regarding the extension of one of the contracts are still ongoing, and as a result, Azerbaijan has a surplus of gas.

In 2021, gas supplies via the Southern Gas Corridor from Azerbaijan to Europe were planned at 5 billion cubic meters and reaching 10 billion cubic meters – next year. However, as shown by data from platforms of European gas transportation operators, the export of Caspian fuel this year may reach 9 billion cubic meters.

For five and a half months, 2.9 billion cubic meters were supplied to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which is part of the project, and the average daily supply amounted to 17.6 million cubic meters. However, at the end of April, the gas supply exceeded 20 million cubic meters per day, and in June, it stays at almost 25 million cubic meters.

Such growth is explained by the fact that the Turkish state-owned company Botas did not extend a long-term contract for the annual supply of 6.6 billion cubic meters of gas with BP-Azerbaijan, which is the operator of the Shah Deniz Stage 1 project, expired on April 17, and the supply of fuel through the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline was stopped. At the same time, gas production at Shah Deniz-1 and Shah Deniz-2 remained at the level of over 50 million cubic meters, and the surplus was allowed to Europe through the Southern Gas Corridor.