The EU–Azerbaijan Energy Partnership
The Expansion of the Southern Gas Corridor
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The EU Commission is seeking the expansion of the southern gas corridor, which runs from the Caspian Sea via Azerbaijan to Southeastern Europe. This is to replace natural gas imports from Russia. Turkmenistan is also offering itself to the EU as a supplier of natural gas. The argument in favour of importing gas from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan via pipeline is that significantly fewer greenhouse gas emissions are generated than when importing liquid gas from other regions of the world. However, a deepening of the energy partnership with the EU would elevate the financial and political status of Azerbaijan, which is an authoritarian state and is behaving aggressively towards Armenia. Considerable investment is required to extract and transport the additional volumes of gas. To this end, investors must first be found.
(Osteuropa 10-11/2023, pp. 51–62)