SOUTHERN
GAS CORRIDOR
Dr. Stefan Buerkle and Charlotte Huebner, ILF Consulting Engineers, Germany,
give an update on the gas transmission landscape in southeastern Europe and South
Caucasus with particular reference to the Southern Gas Corridor.
T
he Ukraine crisis has intensified debates on Europe’s security
of gas supply. Referring to the European Commission’s (EC)
2020 Energy strategy, European security of gas supply is only
to be achieved by the diversification of external gas routes to
the EU market and by increasing flexibility in the internal gas market by
developing interconnecting infrastructure.
1
In 2013, the EU-28 member states imported 66% of its overall gas
consumption.
2
Europe’s gas dependency has increased over the last
years, mainly due to the dwindling of domestic production of natural
gas, and this trend is likely to continue in the long run, despite the
persistently low demand. Since the financial crisis and with the push to
Figure 1.
An overview of gas
pipeline projects in the Southern
Gas Corridor.
The role of the
25
