Minister of Energy: Azerbaijan's vision in energy policy is based on security, advanced innovation and development

Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov delivered a speech on “Azerbaijan's energy policy and the growing role of renewables” at the 14th Baku Summer Energy School held at ADA University. Minister Parviz Shahbazov said that as a result of the energy policy determined by great leader Heydar Aliyev and developed by President Ilham Aliyev with multi-combination, modern and flexible decisions, the main issues related to energy supply in Azerbaijan were resolved. The domestic demand for energy is fully met. At the same time, Azerbaijan has become an exporting country in the field of oil and gas and electricity. Over the years, our energy policy has played an important role in ensuring not only the national and economic security of our country, but also the energy security of Europe.
It was noted that so far 514 million tons of oil and 127 bcm of gas and 29 million tons of condensate have been extracted from the "Azeri", "Chirag", "Gunashli" fields. In 1995-2019, more than 85 billion USD out of 140.8 billion USD foreign investment in Azerbaijan was involved in the oil sector. During this period, the total investment in the oil sector amounted to more than 106 billion USD.
The minister noted that the "Southern Gas Corridor" project includes the development of Azerbaijan as a gas country, diversification of its markets and the diversification objectives of Europe: "Increasing gas production from the Shah Deniz field annually is expected to exceed 25 billion cubic meters in 2024. This allows us to provide the "Shah Deniz" gas purchasers with 16 bcm of gas after the Southern Gas Corridor is fully operational. Gas transportation to Turkey via TANAP has already reached 6 bcm. The last segment of the project-TAP is about to be completed. For the first time, Caspian gas will be delivered to Europe through the Southern Gas Corridor-a project of diversification of sources and routes initiated by Azerbaijan."
 Minister of Energy Parviz Shahbazov also touched upon Azerbaijan's activity within the OPEC plus format: "The OPEC plus agreement allows daily oil production to be regulated by market conditions for two years. According to forecasts, demand for oil is expected to exceed the supply from the third quarter, resulting in a deficit of 3.9 million barrels/day. In order to balance the market in connection with the expected increase in demand for oil in the second half of the year, from August 1, we are entering the phase of mitigation of reductions to 7,7 million barrels. Optimistic forecasts of a decline in the supply from 100 million barrels in the first quarter to 88.3 million barrels in the third quarter suggest that OPEC plus's policy of regulation of the supply is justified. Nevertheless, the pandemic continues and until the global economy recovers, oil market will be mainly balanced as a result of our activities within the format.” The Minister also pointed out that the expansion of the use of renewables as priorities of the modern energy policy of the Republic of Azerbaijan,
increasing the efficiency of the energy system and gradual transition to the liberal market model are the targets of the reform process under the leadership of the President of Azerbaijan. To this end, four new draft laws were prepared, two more new ones and "The long-term strategy for the development of the energy sector” were developed, and pilot projects were implemented with “ACWA Power” (Saudi Arabia) and  “Masdar” (UAE) with a capacity of 440 MW. "By the end of the year, we plan to start construction of 240 MW wind and 200 MW solar power plants. It is expected that these stations, which will be built at the expense of 400 million USD, will generate 1.4 billion kWh of electricity per year, save more than 300 million cubic meters of natural gas, reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 600 thousand tons and create hundreds of new jobs.  At the same time, preparations are underway for the creation of additional capacities of about 1000 MW through auctions”, the minister added.
Then, discussions were held around the questions addressed by the participants.