Due to its cooperation with Azerbaijan and Turkey, Georgia is now receiving enormous dividends, especially against the background of the global economic crisis, which was exacerbated after the Russian aggression against Ukraine.  Having no energy resources of its own, Georgia today not only has no problems supplying its economy and population with natural gas from Azerbaijan, but also earns money from the transit of gas and oil to Europe.

Meanwhile, in terms of energy security, EU countries find themselves in a critical situation, especially on the eve of the next heating season.  Isolated by aggression, Russia is trying to exert pressure on European countries with "gas blackmail," taking advantage of EU countries' dependence on their natural gas supplies. Concerns about further cuts in Russian gas supplies have intensified since the start of planned repairs to the Nord Stream pipeline, which carries gas to Germany.

As a result, Europe urgently needed to find a replacement for Russian gas. And that replacement was found. The EU agreed with Azerbaijan to increase the supply of Azerbaijani gas to the European market. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation in the field of energy in Baku on July 18, 2022.

"Our goal is to double gas supplies from Azerbaijan to the European Union in a few years, Azerbaijan will be a crucial partner for the security of our supply," the European Commission chief wrote on Twitter.

The memorandum contains a commitment to double the capacity of the Southern Gas Corridor to deliver at least 20 billion cubic metres of gas annually to the EU by 2027. And all this natural gas will go through Georgia. Georgia's revenues from gas transit will at least double.

Azerbaijan is expected to increase gas supplies to the EU from 8.1 billion cubic meters in 2021 to the expected 12 billion cubic meters in 2022.

The Memorandum also states that the EU and Azerbaijan share an accelerated transition to energy from renewable sources and the fight against harmful emissions.

The EU-Azerbaijan Cooperation Council will meet in Brussels on 19 July to address common issues in the bilateral relationship and discuss potential areas of mutual interest for future cooperation.

At the same time, a network of gas pipelines is being developed to ensure the convenient delivery of natural gas from the Caspian Sea basin to selected European countries.  The completion of the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector was announced earlier. It allows transporting Azerbaijani natural gas to Bulgaria and from there to the rest of Europe. Naturally, all this natural gas will also go through Georgia.

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