Ukraine and Azerbaijan are looking for new forms of cooperation in the energy sector. During the meeting with Volodymyr Lytvyn, head of the Ukrainian Parliament, in Baku Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan, stressed that there are good prospects for bilateral cooperation in building the Southern Gas Corridor. He said: “Ukraine has to become a part of this project. It would be beneficial both from a political and practical point of view.”
The Southern Gas Corridor is a complex of gas projects aimed at providing gas supply from several sources (at first, Azerbaijan will most likely be the provider) in transit through Turkey to Europe. Currently, Azerbaijan and the EU plan by the end of 2012 to prepare a joint document to support the creation of the Southern Gas Corridor. The growing interest of Europe to receive this corridor was expressed in the statement of the European Commission made last year which called the Southern Gas Corridor the key infrastructure priority for the EU. And the reason for this is that the new gas gates should provide for about 10 to 20 percent of gas needs of Europeans by 2020. Thus, the EU is considering this corridor as a reliable source of energy diversification.
What are the benefits of Ukraine’s accession to the Southern Gas Corridor? And under what conditions should Ukraine get involved in this project? The Day asked these questions Mykhailo HONCHAR, director of energy programs at the “Nomos” Center:
“Accession to the Southern Gas Corridor can significantly improve the energy independence of Ukraine and could provide an extra chance for closer integration of European and Ukrainian energy markets. Besides, it is an opportunity to reduce gas dependence on Russia. But this could happen only if the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline Project will be implemented in parallel because without it the Turkmenian gas will not get to Europe and Ukraine. Why is it so important? Azerbaijani gas would be hardly enough to meet the needs of European and Ukrainian users. Thus, Ukraine can have a risk of being provided with the residual gas. And Turkmenian gas could become a reliable guarantee for diversification of energy risk for Ukraine. The main problem with the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline Project is that the question of demarcation of the Caspian region has not yet been resolved, and without it no construction can be started in there.
“However, cooperation between Ukraine and Azerbaijan can be built not only in this direction. There is also a joint project for delivery of Azerbaijani liquefied gas to Ukrainian LNG-terminal at the Black Sea coast.”
