SGC Advisory Board: Baku has shown what more it can do for Europe

Baku hosted the 12th ministerial meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council and the 4th ministerial meeting of the Green Energy Advisory Council.

Such meetings have been held since February 2015. The meetings of the SGC Advisory Council in Baku have become one of the most important events in the field of energy in the Eurasian space. Since 2023, meetings of the Green Energy Advisory Council have been held in parallel.

This year's meeting was held amid extreme tension in the region. While the war is going on very close to us, in Azerbaijan, in conditions of peace and tranquility, cooperation, energy, transit of energy resources, the most peaceful and always relevant agenda were discussed. The South Caucasus, previously considered a constant turbulent zone with smoldering conflicts, has now turned out to be the only corridor of stability for connecting East and West. Without excessive modesty, it is worth recalling once again that the region owes this to Azerbaijan. Baku skillfully managed all the "settings", balancing the situation in the right mode. Europe and Asia have not lost their connectivity thanks to Azerbaijani projects and initiatives. Therefore, meetings of the SGC Advisory Council continue to gather many countries and are considered as a platform for addressing key energy security issues. 

Despite all the difficulties and very difficult times in our region, the energy security provided by Azerbaijan and its partners for a number of countries has really become something that we can feel on a daily basis, President Ilham Aliyev said in his speech at the meeting.

Since last year's meeting, progress has been observed not only in the growing number of participating countries, financial institutions and companies. Azerbaijan has shown that its European partners are counting on it for a reason.

"Last time, speaking to an audience, I noted that we supply gas to 12 countries. At the moment, the number of countries where Azerbaijani gas has reached consumers has grown to 16. According to this indicator, Azerbaijan ranks first in the world in terms of the number of countries to which it supplies pipeline gas. Last time, I mentioned our plans to expand the geography of gas supplies, and as you can see, they have been implemented. Another important development, in my opinion, is that our gas supplies have already reached other destinations outside of Europe. For the first time, we started supplying gas to Syria in order to help the Syrian people overcome the acute shortage of energy and electricity," the Azerbaijani President said.

Since the beginning of 2026, Azerbaijani gas has reached Western Europe for the first time. Exports to Germany and Austria via the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) began in January.

The Southern Gas Corridor and Azerbaijani gas continue to play an important role in ensuring energy security and supply stability through diversification. Deliveries to Europe began on December 31, 2020, and since then, despite certain restrictions, Azerbaijan has increased supplies to European partners by 56 percent. Despite the fact that Europe has been talking about decarbonization for many years, the demand for fossil fuels has not been falling. On the contrary, he is growing. This is especially true for natural gas. All issues related to these realities are discussed and resolved at meetings of the SGC Advisory Council in Baku.

Currently, one of the main issues is the expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor, in particular the Trans-Adriatic pipeline. Financing is required to expand the TAP to 20 billion cubic meters per year, which is currently unavailable. As Baku has repeatedly stressed, this is due to Europe's unrealistic plans, which did not pay off, but financing of oil and gas projects by European banks has not yet been resumed. At the same time, in 2025, the majority of Azerbaijani gas exports went to European countries - 51 percent. Turkiye, Georgia and Syria received less gas than the Europeans. Azerbaijan has the resources to increase supplies. Taking this into account, as well as the growing number of countries willing to buy Azerbaijani gas, doubling supplies is already quite realistic with proper financing, as Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov said at the meeting.

The Minister stressed that energy security cannot be solely the responsibility of the supplier. Azerbaijan is promoting four upstream projects, which are planned to be commissioned in 2026-2029. Production of the first free gas from the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli field is expected this year. In addition, four new exploration projects are underway onshore and offshore.

In other words, Azerbaijan has gas, and the YUGK pipe will not remain empty. However, the development of new deposits is a costly business and requires guaranteed buyers. And Azerbaijan will not invest in the business without investments and guarantees from its partners.

President Ilham Aliyev, speaking at the meeting, stressed that we can increase the volume of supplies. But to do this, we need to think about expanding the existing gas transportation infrastructure, since today the Southern Gas Corridor is already fully loaded, and expansion is required to supply as much as the market needs, the President said, adding: "and possibly more, given the current situation in the world."

It should be noted that what is happening in the region today, and especially what is happening in the producing countries of the Middle East, can seriously affect the global energy market. Currently, they are only talking about oil prices, but the actual cessation of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz due to the war, even without its official closure by Tehran, as well as Iran's defeat of the energy infrastructure of these countries may soon affect the gas market and gas prices. Azerbaijan has the resources to support the energy security of its European partners in such a situation. As the President of Azerbaijan noted, production at the ACG deepwater gas field will begin this year, and full-scale development of the Absheron field is expected to begin in two to three years, which will increase gas production at this field three times. In addition, gas production is expected to begin as part of the second phase of the Umid field development. Production will begin in 2028 as part of a new phase of Shah Deniz development. According to the head of state, all these projects will allow Azerbaijan to receive from 10 to 15 billion cubic meters of additional gas at the maximum production level.

Azerbaijan made it clear to the partners during the meeting that it has every opportunity to keep them warm and not let their plans stop. Now it's up to them. And Azerbaijan has a lot to invest in. Recently, the country began to enter the European energy market as an infrastructure owner. This is a very serious step that has taken it from a number of purely suppliers to a number of active market participants.

President Ilham Aliyev touched upon this topic in his speech.

"As for the issues related to our, let's say, efforts in the European energy market, I think it will be important for the audience to know that we recently acquired one of the largest power plants in Turkiye with a capacity of 870 megawatts. And last month, a contract was signed with Serbia for the construction of a 500 megawatt power plant in Serbia. Thus, our contribution to energy security is not limited only to our borders and the Southern Gas Corridor. Also among the important achievements and significant factors for us is the acquisition of two refineries in Italy with a total capacity of 10 million tons. If we add to this what we already have on the Turkish coast of the Aegean Sea, an oil refinery with a capacity of 12 million tons, in total we will have refining capacities of 22 million tons in the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea, which in itself will certainly help ensure a sustainable supply of petroleum products, as well as thousands of gas stations that are part of the deal," the head of state said.

It should be recalled that at the end of February, the European Commission approved SOCAR's acquisition of 99.82 percent of Italiana Petroli (IP) shares from API Holding. This deal is an important milestone in the transformation of Azerbaijan's energy strategy and one of the largest energy acquisitions in recent years. We are talking about two oil refineries with a capacity of about 200,000 barrels of oil per day, more than 4,500 gas stations, an oil depot and an extensive logistics infrastructure throughout Italy.

But that's not all. Azerbaijan, thanks to its capabilities, has become not only a supplier, but also a transit country of energy resources from the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea.

"In addition, I would like to emphasize that Azerbaijan also plays an important role as a reliable transit country for energy resources. We provide important oil transit for Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and the volume of oil transported through our system is growing year after year. We are capable and have the infrastructure to receive more oil from the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea," President Ilham Aliyev said.

A few days ago, Kazakh Energy Minister Yerlan Akkenzhenov announced that Azerbaijan had expressed its readiness to increase the transit of Kazakh oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline to 2.2 million tons per year. Currently, 1.2 million tons of Kazakh oil are being pumped through BTC.

The start of transit was announced in March 2023. The first batch of Kazakh oil from the Tengiz field was delivered to the Sangachal terminal as part of an agreement between SOCAR and KazMunaiGas. In March 2024, KMG and SOCAR signed an agreement on a phased increase in oil transit through Azerbaijan to 2.2 million tons per year. In January 2025, Kazakhstan sent the first tanker with oil from the Kashagan field to Azerbaijan.

Let's also not forget about the closed Baku-Supsa oil pipeline, which may be launched if Kazakh supplies to Europe increase. Azerbaijani transit has always been and will remain the most reliable, stable and safe way of energy transit.

Interviews and comments of the participants of the Baku meeting published in the media show that the topic of energy security is more relevant today than ever. Azerbaijan's partners know that Baku can be relied upon. The current situation in the region and many unexpected risks have further increased attention to the Azerbaijani factor on the Eurasian energy map. Therefore, the meetings of the SGC Advisory Council will be more representative every year.

President Ilham Aliyev was very clear about what else Azerbaijan can do for its partners.