The Southern Gas Corridor

Abstract

The Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) is a project that will start by shipping gas from Azerbaijan to Turkey and then to the EU, while aiming in the long run to serve as a major transit system for gas from multiple sources in Central Asia and the Middle East to reach Europe. This chapter starts by detailing the progress achieved to date in implementing the $39 bn set of projects that constitute the initial stages of the SGC’s development. The SGC’s expansion is then considered with particular regard to the intended doubling of its initial capacity to deliver 6 bcm/y of gas to Turkey and a further 10 bcm/y to south-eastern Europe and the EU to around 12 bcm/y and 20 bcm/y, respectively. The system’s ability to attract further input from a “Next Wave” of offshore Azerbaijani gasfields is addressed, as are the prospects that gas from producers such as Turkmenistan, Iran, northern Iraq and the Eastern Mediterranean might access the system. Finally, the chapter addresses the issue of whether Russia might seek to utilise part of the SGC system to enable it to use its planned Turkish Stream project for at least some deliveries to Italy and the question of whether unrest within Turkey might pose serious dangers to transit pipelines.