Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan: "Our responsibility for energy security and green transition should be shared equally"

Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov delivered a speech at the 8th OPEC International Seminar on Towards a Sustainable and Inclusive Energy Transition in Vienna.

The Minister noted the decline in investment in the oil and gas sector in recent years as one of the main risks for market stability and sustainable energy security. It was noted that more than 80 percent of the energy used by today's 100 trillion USD global economy depends on hydrocarbons, and it is unrealistic to completely end this dependence in the short term with highly ambitious political decisions. "We need rational decisions and urgent measures to ensure energy security and a fair, inclusive energy transition by protecting the environment in the coming decades. And this is impossible without dialogue and cooperation between energy market participants,” the Minister added.

Azerbaijan's diversification of its role in energy security by several energy resources and the contribution of natural gas to the solution of the energy crisis by increasing gas supplies to Europe by 40 per cent through the Southern Gas Corridor last year were discussed. The Minister of Energy said that our goal is not to promote any type of energy, but to contribute to energy security, economic development and stability through the correct use of all types of energy: “We support the inclusive energy transition. But we need gas to ensure the sustainability of green energy, which plays an important role in reducing emissions, to support renewable energy, to make a smooth energy transition. I think it's time to act together without delay. Let us make accurate assessments of the development of energy markets not separately, but in a joint, dialogical environment, and share our responsibility for the future equally. Azerbaijan  is ready to contribute to such a dialogue both as an OPEC plus country, which is a reliable guarantor of the sustainable balancing of the global oil market, and as a reliable energy partner of Europe."