Slovakia, Hungary express support to Southern Gas Corridor concept
Earlier, Public Relations and Communication specialist at Slovakia’s Eustream company Pavol Kubik told Trend that there is significant potential for the delivery of gas via the Southern Gas Corridor to Europe through the Eastring gas pipeline.
“Eastring project is not linked to any supplier. Therefore, it will be open for every source on the non-discriminatory basis in full compliance with EU legislation. In this context, we believe there is a significant potential towards Caspian region and Southern Gas Corridor route,” said Kubik.
Eustream’s project Eastring is the EU’s Project of Common Interest (PCI). It can provide shippers with possibility to supply Balkan countries and Turkey from European hubs and will be ready for future gas imports to Europe from well-established and also alternative sources - the Caspian region and the Middle East. Eastring can secure natural gas supply for 100 percent of all Balkan countries` natural gas consumption. The European Commission has awarded the support for the Eastring project by funding the feasibility study under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) mechanism up to 50 percent of the eligible costs.
The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. It envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey.
At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor project. Other sources can also join this project at a later stage.
As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of TANAP and TAP.