Last week the Executive Director of IENE travelled to Baku, Azerbaijan to participate and speak at the 26th Inernational Caspian Oil & Gas conference upon the invitation of the organizers, the ITE group. The conference which took place at the Bilgah Beach Hotel on May 30/31 was convened under the auspices of the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan and with the support of Socar, the State Oil Company.Last week the Executive Director of IENE travelled to Baku, Azerbaijan to participate and speak at the 26th Inernational Caspian Oil & Gas conference upon the invitation of the organizers, the ITE group. The conference which took place at the Bilgah Beach Hotel on May 30/31 was convened under the auspices of the Ministry of Energy of Azerbaijan and with the support of Socar, the State Oil Company. The Caspian Oil & Gas annual conference and the accompanying exhibition provides a unique opportunity to review latest activity in one of the world's most demanding hydrocarbon exploration areas. An area which appears to have an almost inexhaustible potential and over the years has become the focus of exploration,production and transmission activity attracting interest from some of the world's largest oil and gas companies.
Costis Stambolis, IENE's Executive Director participated in a special session chaired by Socar's Deputy Vice President Mr.Vitaly Baylarbayov, part of the Gas Dialogue, which focused on the new export and investment opportunities. The other participants of the panel included Mr.Afgan Isayev,general director of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) company, Dr.Danila Bochkarev, senior fellow for Energy at the East-West Institute and Ms. Gulmira Rzayeva, senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. Following presentations by Afgan Isayev and Costis Stambolis a lively discussion followed with the participation of all four panelists.
In his presentation entitled " South Corridor Opens Up New Energy Markets in SE Europe" Costis Stambolis discussed how the entire South Corridor, slated to become fully functional in 2020 with the operation of its last leg, the TAP pipeline, will help generate a whole new series of gas related businesses along its 3,420 kms route.
"Opening up the South Corridor will bring for the first time after more than 15 years new overland gas supplies to the main European gas markets thus helping to diversify gas supply sources and thus help strengthen European energy security", noted IENE's Executive Director in his opening remarks. "There is a new architecture to be considered in how the South Corridor is shaping up with multiple pipelines,new interconnectors, LNG terminals,additional underground storage facilities and several entry points providing access to more than one suppliers", stressed Stambolis in his short but comprehensive presentation. The full power presentation is available through IENE's web site.( see reports at www.iene.eu)
