Larger volumes of Azerbaijani gas heading to Europe with the launch of the Solidarity Ring (STRING) initiative

The new Solidarity Ring (STRING) initiative, proposed by Bulgaria and supported by the European Commission, to increase the security of natural gas supplies for the European Union and the region of Central and South-Eastern Europe was launched today in Sofia.

At the invitation of the Head of State, Rumen Radev, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, is coming to visit us. The official delegation led by him in Sofia includes representatives of the government of Azerbaijan, according to a press service of the presidential institution.

Within the framework of the visit, in the presence of Presidents Radev and Aliyev, there will be a signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding to promote cooperation between the operators of the gas transmission systems of Bulgaria (Bulgartransgaz), Romania (Transgaz), Hungary (FGSZ), Slovakia (Eustream), as well as the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR). The document is about the Solidarity Ring (STRING) joint initiative, proposed by Bulgaria and supported by the European Commission, to increase the security of natural gas supplies for the European Union and the region of Central and South-Eastern Europe. The memorandum will be signed by the Minister of Energy of the Republic of Bulgaria Rosen Hristov, the Minister of Energy of Romania Virgil-Daniel Popescu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Peter Szijjártó, the Minister of Economy of the Slovak Republic Karel Hirman and the Minister of Energy of the Republic of Azerbaijan Parviz Shahbazov.

After the ceremony, Presidents Rumen Radev and Ilham Aliyev will officially open a SOCAR office in Sofia. The opening of a representative office of the state oil company of Azerbaijan in our country was agreed between the two heads of state in September last year. Then Ilham Aliyev paid an official visit to our country at the invitation of Rumen Radev, and the visit included the official opening of the gas interconnector between Greece and Bulgaria.

Azerbaijan started supplies of natural gas to Europe through the Southern Gas Corridor on December 31, 2020. About 22 billion cubic meters of gas have been delivered through the Trans-Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP), along the European section of the Southern Gas Corridor. This year, Azerbaijan plans to export to Europe around 12 billion cubic meters of blue fuel.

Specifically for Bulgaria, according to existing data, in the first quarter of 2023, more than 3 million MWh of natural gas were transported through the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector (IGB). Since the commissioning on October 1, 2022, more than 8 million MWh have been transported through the gas pipeline. Deliveries through the IGB gas pipeline currently provide over 1/3 of the country's domestic consumption.