The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) signed a "Memorandum of Understanding on Promotion of Cooperation" with companies from Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia today, April 25, in Sofia.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of Bulgaria Rumen Radev took part in the signing ceremony.
As reported on the website of the Azerbaijani leader, the memorandum of understanding was signed by the Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan Parviz Shahbazov, the Minister of Energy of Bulgaria Rosen Hristov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Peter Sijarto, the Minister of Energy of Romania Virgil-Daniel Popescu and the Minister of Energy of Romania Virgil-Daniel Popescu.
Ilham Aliyev said that in 2021, Azerbaijan will deliver 8 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe. He said that this year he aims to increase this figure to 12 billion.
That is, it will be almost half of our total export volume, which we plan this year at the level of 24.5 billion cubic meters. Of course, the volumes of our production and exports will increase, because we will increase production from existing gas fields. In the coming years, we also expect the production of natural gas at new deposits," Aliyev said.
The memorandum of understanding defines the directions of cooperation between SOCAR and four operators of gas transportation systems for additional gas supplies to Europe. They will be carried out through the improved network of gas transportation systems of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, called the "Ring of Solidarity".
