Alexey Belogoryev, Deputy Principal Director on Energy Studies at the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented to the Internet portal Free Press on the statement of the Italian Foreign Ministry representative regarding the diversification of gas supplies to Europe.
Italy, in terms of gas supplies, is one of the most diversified countries in Europe. Alexey Belogoryev announced this. “However, in my opinion, Italy should not recommend its scenario to other EU states. Holy simplicity!” the source of the Free Press commented on the statement of the Italian Foreign Ministry representative.
Earlier it was reported that Deputy Foreign Minister of Italy Manlio Di Stefan said that Russian gas supplies could be replaced by imports of energy resources from other states.
As Alexey Belogoryev notes, it will be quite difficult for Europe to get additional volumes of gas from Algeria: “There, due to the fact that domestic consumption is growing, exports have been falling in recent years. Over the past year, it has decreased by 20%, and Algeria will not be able to increase production in the coming years.”
The expert notes that Azerbaijan really has plans to expand the Trans-Adriatic and Trans-Anatolian gas pipelines so that it would be possible to increase gas exports by another ten billion cubic meters.
According to the interlocutor, things are even worse with the "blue fuel" from Turkmenistan - according to him, this issue has been discussed for more than a decade.“But it's not a near future. Plus, there are difficulties with the production of own Azerbaijani gas: there is a clear production schedule; growth is rather slow. Therefore, no country will receive any additional volumes in relation to what has long been known,” he clarifies.
“The problem is that there is no gas pipeline across the Caspian Sea – Russia and Iran are categorically against its construction. This issue has been studied many times, but it is impossible to build such a gas pipeline without the consent of Russia and Iran. True, there is an idea of building a pipeline through Iran to Turkey, but the issue is complicated by difficult relations in the Turkmenistan-Iran-Turkey triangle, so it is completely unclear when construction can begin, and whether it will take place at all,” Alexey Belogoryev notes.
Subscribe for updates
and be the first to know about new publications