Maryna Bilynska, Ph.D (Medicine&Public Administration),
South Ukrainian University named after Ushinski, Professor
Zurab Garakanidze, Ph.D (Economics), Georgia
D. Agmashenebeli Defense Academy, Professor
Summary
The Russia-Ukraine war, the energy security of all the countries of the wider Black Sea Area (WBSA – which includes the South Caucasus) was affected. However, this conflict had the greatest impact on the main gas supplier of the European Union – the Russian JSC “Gazprom”. The article discusses the process of demonopolization of the EU gas market. In particular, it is noted that the Russia-Ukraine war has disrupted global supply chains, but this provides a new opportunity for Azerbaijan. In particular, since the US and Europe have imposed sanctions on Russian oil and natural gas, it seems Azerbaijan has a chance to increase its gas exports through the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), which passes through seven countries (including Georgia) and supplies gas to Turkey and Southeast Europe. Currently, through SGC, Azerbaijan supplies Turkey and Europe with 16 billion cubic meters (BCM) of natural gas annually.
With JSC Gazprom almost completely leaving the European energy market by the end of 2024, in order to meet the growing demand of the Southeast European gas market, Azerbaijan is developing new gas fields and is open to investments to expand the capacity of SGC, in particular, by the additional compressor stations in Georgia and Turkey. With the installation them, will be possible to double the gas flow to the southeastern part of the EU by 2027. However, in this region of Europe, from the beginning of 2024, the “Vertical Gas Corridor” project, which will be a undirect competitor of the “Southern Gas Corridor”, has been launched, and it is necessary to implement relevant measures in order to harmonize two EU pipeline projects (the SGC and the Vertical Gas Corridor) and timely ensure the long-term gas supply contracts that the “Shak-Deniz” consortium has already concluded with European customers. In this article we consider possibility of using the Vertical Gas Corridor and IGB (interconnector Grece Bolgaria of the SGC) as the sources for filling the Ukrainian GTS and the UGFs (Underground Gas Storage Facilities) as an additional leveriges for the EU energy security.
Keywords: RF-Ukraine war, EU Southern Gas Corridor – EU SGC, gas pipelines, energy security, Caspian Sea, Black Sea, Gazprom, SOCAR, liquefied natural gas – LNG.
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