After the restoration of the state independence of Azerbaijan, one of the main goals was to use natural resources freely, in the interests of the Azerbaijani people and state. Since the early 1990’s, several western companies have begun to show interest in the energy sources of the Caspian region. In the first years of independence, certain steps were taken to obtain energy resources and bring them to the world market. The “Contract of the Century” concluded on September 20, 1994, with 11 transnational oil companies worldwide, which laid the foundation of the oil strategy proposed by national leader Heydar Aliyev, allowed Azerbaijan to play an important role in the Caucasus and Caspian Sea region, turning it into one of the international centers for the production of energy resources.
After the signing of the “Contract of the Century”, the key issue was finding favorable ways for oil and gas transit. The choice of Georgia as a transit country would meet the interests of Azerbaijan. Starting from 1999, the first oil was transported via the Baku-Supsa pipeline, and from 2006 on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan main export oil pipeline.
Transportation of gas, along with oil, is carried out through Georgia. Gas is transported to Georgia by the end of 2006 through the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline and from June 2007 to Turkey.
The Southern Gas Corridor, which is probably the largest gas pipeline project put forward by Azerbaijan, involving Georgia, delivers the Shahdeniz Phase 2 gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe. The South Caucasus Pipeline Project Expansion, part of this project, encompasses the construction of new pipelines and associated facilities in both Azerbaijan and Georgia. The opening ceremony of the first phase of the Southern Gas Corridor project was held at Sangachal Terminal on May 29, 2018.
Within the framework of the AGRI (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania Interconnector) project, which is one of the energy projects connecting Azerbaijan and Georgia, it is planned to transport natural gas through the pipeline to the Black Sea shores of Georgia, where it will be liquefied and transported by tankers to the terminal in Romania’s Constanta port and then to the gas infrastructure of Romania and other European countries in the form of natural gas.
Georgia is not only a transit country for Azerbaijan, but also one of the largest consumers of hydrocarbon reserves. The State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) has been operating in Georgia since 2006. SOCAR's activities in Georgia are carried out through “SOCAR Georgia Petroleum”, “SOCAR Gas Export-Import”, “SOCAR Georgia Gas”, “SOCAR Georgia Gas Distribution”, “Black Sea Terminal” and others.
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