The Center on Global Energy Policy for an assessment regarding the progress and the challenges of the Southern Gas Corridor. The $45 billion dollar project was launched in December 2013 and aims to bring the first new natural gas volumes to Europe in decades. The project transits seven countries and six regulatory systems, with over a dozen investing companies and gas buyers involved in the endeavor. Dr. Vitaliy Baylarbayov, Deputy Vice President of SOCAR, the national oil company of Azerbaijan, discussed the progress and challenges of launching this complicated project. He also discussed the goals of the project and its projected impact on the energy security of various European states. Jesse McCormick, Associate Director for the the Center on Global Energy Policy, moderated a discussion after Dr. Baylarbayov’s remarks.
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Dr. Vitaliy Baylarbayov is the Deputy Vice-President of SOCAR for Investments and Marketing. Dr. Baylarbayov has over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas industry and holds a PhD in Economics. He has held executive positions in the negotiations related to and the management of a number of major oil and gas upstream and midstream projects, including the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oilfields, the Shah-Deniz gas/condensate field, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, and Southern Gas Corridor Projects including the expansion of the Southern Caucasus Pipeline, the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).
