Azerbaijan could initially supply 5 bcm of gas per year to Europe under STRING initiative - SGOA chief
BAKU. May 8 (Interfax) - Azerbaijani gas supplies to Europe under the Solidarity Ring initiative (STRING) could amount to 5 billion cubic meters per year at the initial stage, said Richard Kvasnovsky, executive director of the Slovak Gas and Oil Association (SGOA).
Kvasnovsky said in an interview with the Slovak publication Pravda that the European countries had become significantly less reliant on Russian gas in recent years thanks to supplies of LNG and Norwegian natural gas.
"Azerbaijan may become another source country. This would be a significant contribution to increasing energy security, especially for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, given their historical connection with the eastern gas pipeline system," he said.
He said that in this context, the Solidarity Ring initiative to increase gas imports from Azerbaijan through the existing infrastructure provided that cross-border throughput capacity is increased was noteworthy.
"During the initial stage, our region could receive up to 5 bcm of natural gas from Azerbaijan, which is as much as Slovakia consumes in a year," he said.
Kvasnovsky said Azerbaijan had a pivotal role as an EU partner in diversifying natural gas supply, as evidenced by the Strategic Partnership Memorandum with the European Commission, aiming to boost Azerbaijani gas exports to 20 bcm per annum.
Eustream transport company board member Miroslav Bodnar told the publication that there were proposals to use Slovakia's existing infrastructure of Slovakia as part of the Solidarity Ring initiative through Bulgaria. "We are completely ready for this and will be able to start using it fully in the summer," Bodnar said.
He said that at the moment the problem area was on the border between Romania and Hungary, since transport capacity was fully utilized.
But Bodnar said signing an agreement on gas imports would not mean that Slovakia can immediately completely abandon Russia in terms of gas supplies. "In the near future, they [new supplies] will cover some of Slovakia's needs, but this will enable us to prepare completely," he said.
The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) and operators of gas transmission networks in Bulgaria (Bulgartransgaz), Romania (Transgaz), Hungary (FGSZ) and Slovakia (Eustream) signed a memorandum of understanding in Sofia in April last year as part of the Solidarity Ring (STRING) initiative.
The initiative was proposed by Bulgarian President Ruman Radev in October 2022 and gained backing from the European Commission. It aims to raise the security of natural gas supply to Central and Southeastern Europe. STRING involves additional delivery - up to 5 billion cubic meters annually - of Caspian gas to the European Union via the Southern Gas Corridor, using the existing transit infrastructure of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia. The project participants are certain they can implement it within the shortest time possible and at the minimum cost of minor upgrades to the existing network.