In this special edition of Energy Frontiers, we’re in Baku for exclusive insights into Azerbaijan’s evolving role in energy security, renewables, and its growing partnerships with Europe and beyond.
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00:00Hello everyone, I'm Rebecca McLaughlin-Eastam and welcome to a special edition of Energy Frontiers
00:06where we bring you exclusive conversations with the most influential people in the global energy sector.
00:12Today, as you can see, you join me from Azerbaijan's capital, Baku,
00:16where the 11th Ministerial Meeting of the Southern Gas Corridors Advisory Council
00:20alongside the 3rd Ministerial Meeting of the Green Energy Advisory Council has taken place.
00:30Azerbaijan is leveraging its strategic location to become not only a supplier
00:42but a critical connector between energy-rich regions and energy-dependent markets.
00:48With its southern gas corridor transporting billions of cubic metres of natural gas to 12 countries,
00:5510 of them in Europe and 8 of them member states,
00:57the nation is also committed to supplying green energy to Europe.
01:02On the sidelines of ministerial meetings in Baku's Golestan Palace,
01:06Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Parvez Shabazov shed light on the country's ambition
01:11to become a regional energy hub and a reliable energy partner in turbulent geopolitical times.
01:19Minister, thank you very much for speaking to me today.
01:21Thank you very much for inviting me.
01:24Minister, let me start by asking you about Azerbaijan's plans for expanding capacity
01:29of the Southern Gas Corridor and further enhancing energy security to Europe.
01:35The Southern Gas Corridor project has been, from the very beginning,
01:39designed in a way that it can be expanded.
01:43Of course, we need more investment and financing.
01:46And we need, of course, the long-term contractual arrangements for this.
01:53And, of course, as the most recipients of the natural gas from Azerbaijan are European countries,
02:05we need also the close involvement and support of the European Union and European Commission.
02:11We would like also to have the access to the European Union programs and funds
02:20that are available for the energy security and also the energy transition.
02:28Well, let me pick up on that, because may I ask you how you're balancing your energy portfolio,
02:32as you say, marrying the two, the traditional oil and gas, the fossil fuels, with renewables,
02:37whilst also remaining committed to mitigating climate change and delivering an energy transition.
02:43Yeah, a very good question.
02:44Actually, we have planned 10 power stations for wheat and solar until 2027.
02:55And the installed capacity of the renewables in the overall share in the generation of electricity in Azerbaijan
03:06will get already by 2027 more than 33%.
03:12But it is only for the domestic use.
03:16We have additional projects to export green energy to our long-standing traditional partners in Europe.
03:25Picking up on that, we can refer to the Caspian Black Sea European Green Corridor, of course.
03:30What might be a status report? How is it going?
03:33So it is Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania, Hungary.
03:37And the European Commission has been with us all the time from the very beginning.
03:42So it is something that also should bring more energy security and energy transition to Europe.
03:52We have already established a joint company in Bucharest.
03:58The name is Keco.
04:00And this company has already started its activities.
04:04The feasibility study of this project is already at the final stage.
04:09And we expect that it will open the way for the taking decision on investment decision on this project
04:20and start tendering this project.
04:24You've touched upon some of the agreements, the collaborations that you have with other nations, EU and beyond.
04:29What does the roadmap look like for partnerships beyond 2025?
04:33We have another project which actually started through the COP29 when the leaders of three countries,
04:43Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, came together, signed intergovernmental agreement
04:49about connection of Azerbaijan with the Central Asia for the first time in the history.
04:56Even being the parts of the Soviet Union, we have never been connected through the electricity and powertures measurements.
05:06There are plenty of projects and most of them always either born here
05:13within the Southern Gas Corridor and Green Energy Advisory Council meetings
05:20or broadly discussed in the framework of these events.
05:25Minister, it's been a pleasure. Thank you very much for your time.
05:27Thank you. Thank you very much.
05:30I also had the opportunity to sit down with the EU's Commissioner for Energy and Housing
05:35to discuss everything from energy security to supply diversification
05:39and, of course, the all-important transition to renewables.
05:42Commissioner Dan Jørgensen is the co-chair of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council.
05:53And when we met in Baku, I began by asking him what was top of his priority list
05:58and how he wanted his tenure to be defined,
06:02given the challenging times Europe was facing with energy security.
06:06We don't want to be dependent on fossil fuels, especially gas from Russia.
06:10We want to be 100% independent of that.
06:14We can no longer be in a situation where we indirectly help finance Prusen's war.
06:19So for us, it's very, very important to have good friends and partners that can help us.
06:25As European countries rapidly diversified their energy sources,
06:30natural gas became central to energy security discussions.
06:34While the advantages of the transition fuel
06:37include helping to meet rising demand and emitting less CO2 than coal and oil,
06:43challenges like infrastructure bottlenecks and managing price volatility
06:47remain top of mind for European leaders.
06:50There's no doubt that gas is also going to be important for us in Europe for some years to come.
06:58We need to find a balance because on one hand,
07:00we are obviously in the middle of a transition.
07:02We want to move away from fossil fuels, including gas.
07:06On the other hand, we also know that that is not something we can do from one day till the next.
07:10And we have people in Europe that are having problems being able to afford their energy bills.
07:18So 46 million people last year were not able to adequately heat their homes.
07:23So we need to help them.
07:24And one of the ways to do that is bring down the prices on gas.
07:28Why is it at the same time becoming independent of Russian gas?
07:32Why is it at the same time staying on course for the green transition?
07:36Because climate change has not become a smaller problem.
07:39That's also become a bigger problem.
07:40So, yeah, it is a tall order.
07:42But that is why meetings like these are extremely important.
07:46Well, that is a wrap of this special edition of Energy Frontiers
07:50brought to you from the heart of Baku.
07:52I'll see you again next time.
07:53Until then, take care and goodbye.