TBILISI, October 16 – Azerbaijan has exported 17.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas through the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline (also known as the South Caucasus Pipeline) between January and September 2024, according to data released by the country’s State Statistics Committee on Thursday.
The volume represents a 1.98 percent increase compared with the same period last year, underscoring steady growth in the region’s gas trade. The pipeline, which carries gas from Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea, supplies Georgia and Turkey and connects further westward through the Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic (TAP) pipelines to reach European markets.
In total, 29.8 billion cubic meters of gas were transported through Azerbaijan’s main pipelines in the first nine months of the year, a 0.9 percent rise year-on-year. The Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum line accounted for 57.5 percent of that total, confirming its central role in Azerbaijan’s energy exports.
During the same period, Azerbaijan produced 37.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas, including 29 billion cubic meters of marketable gas, up 1.8 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively, compared to 2023.
The South Caucasus Pipeline began operating at the end of 2006, initially transporting gas from the first phase of Shah Deniz development. In 2018, deliveries from Shah Deniz Phase 2 started through the expanded SCP system, known as SCPX, which links into TANAP in Turkey. From there, the gas continues through the TAP pipeline to southern Europe.
Gas supplies to Georgia are delivered through a 30-inch branch pipeline connected at the village of Jandari, near Gardabani municipality.
The Shah Deniz consortium, which oversees one of the Caspian region’s largest gas fields, includes BP (operator, 29.99%), Lukoil (19.99%), TPAO (19%), NICO (10%), and SGC Upstream (21.02%). The production-sharing agreement, first signed in 1996 and ratified the same year, was extended in 2013 until 2046.
