Solomon Peter Group’s Post

The EU and Azerbaijan as Energy Partners: Short-Term Benefits, Uncertain Future Azerbaijan has strengthened its energy ties with the #EU since 2022, ramping up #gas deliveries and articulating ambitions to export #renewableenergy and green #hydrogen to Europe in the future. However, the EU’s shrinking gas demand and #Azerbaijan’s lack of a genuine decarbonization strategy cast uncertainty on the long-term prospects of this partnership – all the more so given the EU’s persistent criticism of political repression and human rights violations in the South Caucasus republic. Expanding energy ties Azerbaijan (population 10.3 million), which is the host of this year’s global climate summit #COP29, is the epitome of a country experiencing carbon lock-in. Oil and gas production contributes roughly half of the South Caucasus republic’s GDP and half of all its national budget revenues, as well as more than 90 percent of its export earnings. The largest share of these exports goes to the European Union (EU) and is transported over pipelines running through Georgia and Turkey to Greece, Albania and Italy (Azerbaijan does not produce liquefied natural gas, LNG). With an annual production total of 48.7 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas and 30.2 million tons of crude oil (2023 figures), Azerbaijan may be a smaller-sized producer in global comparison, but its importance for the EU has been growing. It is now the fourth-largest supplier of piped gas to the EU with a share of 7 percent, behind Norway, Algeria and Russia. Of the EU’s total gas imports, Azerbaijan’s share stands at 3 percent. Read the full #blogpost of Yana Zabanova here: https://lnkd.in/dEDUErGF Forschungsinstitut für Nachhaltigkeit (RIFS)

⚡ Azerbaijan has strengthened its energy ties with the EU since 2022, ramping up gas deliveries and articulating ambitions to export renewable energy and green hydrogen to Europe in the future. However, the EU’s shrinking gas demand and Azerbaijan’s lack of a genuine decarbonization strategy cast uncertainty on the long-term prospects of this partnership – all the more so given the EU’s persistent criticism of political repression and human rights violations in the South Caucasus republic. Yana Zabanova reports ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eHe99vNj #COP29 Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union, Brussels

The EU and Azerbaijan as Energy Partners: Short-Term Benefits, Uncertain Future https://ift.tt/5U8s6bx Expanding energy ties Azerbaijan (population 10.3 million), which is the host of this year’s global climate summit COP29, is the epitome of a country experiencing carbon lock-in. Oil and gas production contributes roughly half of the South Caucasus republic’s GDP and half of all its national budget revenues, as well as more than 90 percent of its export earnings. The largest share of these exports goes to the European Union (EU) and is transported over pipelines running through Georgia and Turkey to Greece, Albania and Italy (Azerbaijan does not produce liquefied natural gas, LNG). With an annual production total of 48.7 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas and 30.2 million tons of crude oil (2023 figures), Azerbaijan may be a smaller-sized producer in global comparison, but its importance for the EU has been growing. It is now the fourth-largest supplier of piped gas to the EU with a share of 7 percent, behind Norway, Algeria and Russia. Of the EU’s total gas imports, Azerbaijan’s share stands at 3 percent. The new geopolitical era ushered in by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has presented opportunities to Azerbaijan. As the EU scrambled to secure non-Russian gas supplies, Azerbaijan was quick to step in. In July 2022, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen traveled to Baku to sign the EU-Azerbaijan Memorandum of Understanding on a Strategic Partnership in the Field of Energy. As part of the agreement, Azerbaijan pledged to more than double its gas supplies to Europe to 20 bcm annually by 2027. The EU’s decision to upgrade these ties has been controversial from the very beginning due to Azerbaijan’s worrying track record of political repression and human rights violations. In October 2024, the European Parliament passed a highly critical (although non-binding) resolution calling on the EU to end its “gas reliance” on the country and suspend the 2022 Memorandum. So far, however, political expediency has trumped other concerns. By the end of 2022, Azerbaijan was able to deliver 11.4 bcm to the EU (up from 8.1 bcm in 2021), followed by 11.8 bcm in 2023. Thanks to high gas prices, Azerbaijan’s export earnings from gas surged from USD 5.56 billion in 2021 to USD 14.99 billion in 2022 and USD 13.68 billion in 2023, surpassing revenues from oil exports for the first time in the country’s history. Azerbaijan has also expanded the geography of its exports to Europe. Romania began importing Azeri gas in 2023, followed by Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia in 2024, joining Italy (the largest importer), Bulgaria and Greece. Slovakia has expressed its interest in Azeri gas deliveries as well, while Hungary’s state-owned power company MVM Group acquired a 5 percent stake in Azerbaijan’s major Shah Deniz gas field development project and a 4 percent stake in the South Caucasus Pipeline Company in August...

9 May EU-day 9 May 1950, the European Coal and Steel Community 9 May 2024, the African-European Community for Energy-Intensive Industries The opportunity for a new European "Schuman" and a new African "Mandela" On 9 May, the EU celebrates the signing of the ECSC Declaration of 9 May 1950. Robert Schuman, the French foreign minister, managed to convince five European countries to pool their coal and steel, resulting in the EU and 74 years of lasting peace in Europe. In 1990, in South Africa, Nelson "Madiba" Mandela was released after 27 years of imprisonment. He was not out for revenge but immediately negotiated with the government a black-and-white future for South Africa. Today, global warming and the asymmetry in prosperity between Africa and Europe threaten the dreams of Schuman and Mandela. With the European elections just around the corner (6-9 June), and in order to safeguard prosperity and well-being in Europe, popular politicians are making passionate pleas for investments in nuclear energy (climate transition and preservation of industrial Europe) and to take strict action against illegal economic migration. However, the world is one big village: CO2 emissions don't stop at the border, and with climate catastrophes and a lack of decent jobs in factories and related services in Africa, there is a chance that in twenty years' time Europe will be flooded by an order of magnitude higher number of illegal migrants from Africa than today. Fences, push-backs, flights to Kigali, shelter in North and West Africa, solidarity spread throughout Europe do not bring any solace. -   "Energy-intensive industries may no longer be profitable. Entire regions can be redesigned, depending on the availability of renewable energy." (Europe’s top banking supervisor warns of tougher times ahead - FT 18/3/2024). -   Africa is endowed with abundant green energy, a demographic dividend, the AfCFTA market of the future, and natural resources, but lacks the experience to transform its raw materials emission-free in energy-intensive processes into basic materials (steel, cement, aluminium, glass, ammonia, fertilizer, ...) that the world and Africa desperately need. -   A debt-ridden Europe does master the necessary know-how and technologies and needs new markets. Hence the call for a new visionary Schuman and a new visionary Mandela, inspired by the benefits of the ECSC, to encourage the European Union and the African Union to pool their energy-intensive industries under a single “African-European Energy Intensive Industry Community”.

ICYMI: As COP29 begins in Azerbaijan this week, read Eman Omar's take on why and how Pakistan should reduce its fossil fuel dependence and invest in clean energy. https://lnkd.in/gSfjnJ22

China's 🇨🇳 climate ambitions sound really ✨fabulous✨ if you only listen to the speeches and presentations at #COP28. But we can assure you – they are playing both sides. What you should know: 🔥 China loves coal:   👉 2/3 of new coal fired capacity currently under development worldwide is planned in China. If built, these projects would increase the current global installed coal-fired capacity by more than 16%. 👉 8 of the world’s top 10 coal plant developers are state-owned Chinese power corporations.   🛢️ China is deeply involved in oil and gas expansion:   👉 China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China’s largest state-owned oil and gas corporation, invests more money into exploring new oil and gas resources than any other company worldwide and ranks among the top five hydrocarbon producers in the world. 👉 China is the world’s leading expansionist in gas-fired power capacity and LNG import or expansion projects: 17% of gas-fired power projects planned worldwide are being built in China. 62 new LNG import projects or project expansions are being planned in China.   Don’t be fooled by China’s selective messaging. Despite ambitious investments in renewables, it is nowhere near meeting its Paris climate goals. Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) Asian Development Bank (ADB) CNPC International Ltd. Dr. habil. Nora Sausmikat China.Table Felix Lee #China #RenewableEnergy #FossilFuels

#Azerbaijan – Authorities intensify deals and investments at COP29 while countering Western criticism 🛢️ Is Azerbaijan using the #COP29 summit to tout its status as a major oil and gas producer?  🤔 Can Azerbaijan increase its gas supply to #Europe without importing more from Russia?  📈 What is driving Azerbaijan’s economic #growth prospects? Our Insight Members can download the full briefing through the link in the comments section. #SOCAR #EU #climate #naturalgas #Absheron #Umid #RiskForecasting #PangeaRisk

Months after UN-led climate talks, the demand for natural gas from the host of this year’s COP29 is growing in Europe and elsewhere. Azerbaijan, which has the presidency of the 29th United Nations’ Conference of the Parties, exported almost 24 Bcm of natural gas in 2023 with half of the volumes going to Europe, according to Energy Ministry data. “There’s absolutely no hint that” the gas demand will decline, Deputy Energy Minister Orxan Zeynalov said in an interview in the capital Baku. “Right now, we have a long list” of countries — both old and new buyers — for an additional 30 Bcm. The bp Plc-led Shah Deniz deposit in December 2020 started supplying natural gas to Italy, Greece and Bulgaria via the so-called Southern Gas Corridor — a chain of pipelines connecting Azerbaijan’s Caspian Sea shores with Europe via Georgia and Turkey. Three more European countries, Romania, Hungary and Serbia, have since joined the list of buyers. #Azerbaijan #cop29 #gasnatural #gasexport #europe https://lnkd.in/e6CgA9_j