IRNA: Could Iran Play a Part in EU Energy Security?

Azerbaijan’s Energy Minister Natig Aliyev says the gas pipeline originating in his country can also transport fuel to Europe through the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) from Iran and other neighboring nations in both the Middle East and Central Asia.

“Gas from Turkmenistan, Iran, Iraq, as well as from Israel and Cyprus, can be connected to the Southern Gas Corridor,” Aliyev told the Caspian Oil & Gas Conference in Baku on June 3. “The extensive work done by Azerbaijan stands behind all of this.”

According to the American magazine, Time, the minister said that as Europe is looking for alternatives to Russian gas, its attention is being drawn increasingly to Azerbaijan because it could provide “a new source of energy for Europe, and it offers Europe new routes.”

Azerbaijan could become a major source of energy for the West, Aliyev said, given that it produced 42 million tons of oil and 29 billion cubic meters of gas in 2014. Looking to the future, he said, his country intends to maintain that level of oil output, or even increase it to 45 million tons per year, and that it plans to double its output of gas. MORE