Aliyev confirms Trump’s personal involvement in the Southern Gas Corridor
On 26 February, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev received the US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Diplomacy in the Department of State's Bureau of Energy Resources Kurt Donnelly in order to discuss the prospects of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC). The details of the meeting were reported by haqqin.az.
“All work on the SGC is proceeding in accordance with the schedule. I would like to express my gratitude to the US government for the continued support of this important project. I know that President Trump is personally involved in this process, and his active contacts have greatly helped in solving certain difficulties that we had to deal with earlier,” said Aliyev.
“The [future] path is clear. I am sure that our effective cooperation will continue in the future, as the US government has constantly supported our projects, whether it be oil and gas pipelines or the development of energy potential,” he added.
Donnelly, in turn, noted the importance of the upcoming ministerial meeting of the Advisory Board on the SGC project and the discussions held within the framework of this meeting.
On May 29, 2018, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev launched SGC, which provides for the creation of infrastructure for the supply of Azerbaijani gas to Europe. The project cost was estimated at $ 38 billion. The main components of the project are: Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz project, the expansion of the South Caucasus pipeline Baku-Georgia-border with Turkey, the construction of the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) from the eastern to western borders of Turkey and the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline (TAP), connecting Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. Azerbaijani gas supplies to Europe are expected in the 4th quarter of 2020 in the amount of 10 billion cubic meters. In addition, 6 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas is intended for deliveries to the western regions of Turkey. Deliveries to Turkey began in the summer of 2018.
In December 2018, the US Congress passed the bipartisan House Resolution 1035 that promoted the Southern Gas Corridor, while calling for European governments to reject the Nord Stream 2 project. The resolution supported European energy security through diversification of supplies, such as the Southern Gas Corridor which will deliver Caspian Sea energy resources to Southern and Central Europe.