Azerbaijan is the enabler of the Southern Gas Corridor

Caspian Energy (CE): Mr. Barroso, how do you evaluate the result of your mission and how will the EU build further relations with the Caspian countries?

José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission: The Caspian region is already today a major energy partner to Europe: Azerbaijan is providing today some 5% of EU's crude oil requirements and Kazakhstan close to 6%. This trade has the potential to grow significantly. We therefore maintain a very close dialogue not only with these two countries, but with all other countries in the Caspian region on our energy issues, and not only on oil and gas but on all energy sources, including renewables.

The Southern Gas Corridor is a key project in this regard. It is central to the EU’s policy of supply diversification, and beneficial to all sides: to Europe because it contributes to our long-term energy security and to the countries of the Caspian region in terms of gaining access to the world's largest gas market – the EU. 

Azerbaijan is the enabler of the Southern Gas Corridor. I have thanked President Aliyev during my visit to Baku in June for Azerbaijan's unwavering commitment to this project, which we have been working on together for several years. The investment decision taken on the Shah Deniz II project and the planned delivery of at least 10 bcm per year from that field to Europe demonstrates that this project is economically viable and commercially sound. 

However, we are already looking at increasing the volumes to be shipped through the Southern Gas Corridor, from Azerbaijan and hopefully other partners. We continue to discuss with Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan regarding the construction of the Trans-Caspian Pipeline. Other countries in Central Asia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean also have the potential to contribute to the Corridor. As you see, we have already today a strong and solid partnership on energy with all countries in the region.