Greece intends to encourage attracting foreign investment as part of SGC project

/By AzerNews/

By Aynur Karimova

Greece is keen on encouraging and actively supporting the process of attracting foreign investments, particularly as part of the implementation of the giant Southern Gas Corridor project.

This remark was made by Greek Deputy Foreign Minister for International Economic Relations Dimitris Mardas at a meeting with the delegations of Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR and BP, Greek foreign ministry reported.

During the meeting, representatives of BP and SOCAR reported on the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project and construction of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

SOCAR representatives also confirmed their interest in entering into a shareholder agreement for DESFA, the operator of the gas distribution network of Greece.

Mardas said the government of Greece intends to encourage and actively support the attraction of foreign investment in the country and stressed the importance of the Southern Gas Corridor for energy security in Europe.

Giorgos Tsipras, the secretary general for International Economic Relations and Development Cooperation under the Greek foreign ministry, and Rahman Mustafayev, Azerbaijani ambassador to Athens, also attended the meeting.

The Southern Gas Corridor project envisages the transportation of the gas extracted at the giant Shah Deniz field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas will make a 3,500 kilometer journey from the Caspian Sea into Europe. This requires upgrading the existing infrastructure and the development of a chain of new pipelines.

The existing South Caucasus Pipeline will be expanded with a new parallel pipeline across Azerbaijan and Georgia, while the Trans-Anatolian pipeline will transport Shah Deniz gas across Turkey to meet the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, which will take gas through Greece and Albania into Italy.

The Southern Gas Corridor is set to change the energy map of the entire region, connecting gas supplies in the Caspian to markets in Europe for the very first time.

The first gas supplies through the corridor to Georgia and Turkey are given a target date of late 2018. Gas deliveries to Europe are expected just over a year after the first gas is produced offshore in Azerbaijan.

The Southern Gas Corridor pipeline system has been designed to be scalable to twice its initial capacity to accommodate additional gas supplies in the future.

Greece foreign ministry believes that during the construction of the pipeline local business operators will be hired, new jobs will be created, and the financing of communities and regions across the country, where construction has been proposed, will be realized.