Azerbaijan's natural gas exports to the European Union have increased significantly in recent years, reaching approximately 12.8 billion cubic meters in 2025, APA reports.
Azerbaijan's growing role in Europe's energy security was the main focus of an interview given by SOCAR Deputy Vice President Vitaliy Baylarbayov to Euronews' Business Horizons program.
The program noted that Azerbaijan's energy corridors play a key role in diversifying Europe's energy sources and that the country's importance in the global energy market has grown significantly in recent years.
The SOCAR deputy vice president said Azerbaijan's export routes are of strategic importance both for the country and for Europe.
"I would say they are extremely important both for the diversification of Europe's energy sources and for us," he said.
According to Vitaliy Baylarbayov, SOCAR's international cooperation has also expanded amid ongoing geopolitical developments.
"The main change for us is that we are now working with an increasing number of countries. The number of our partners continues to grow both in the countries to which we supply gas and in those from which we obtain services and technologies," he said.
He stressed that SOCAR operates all of Azerbaijan's export pipelines on behalf of the country.
"SOCAR manages all oil and gas pipelines leaving Azerbaijan on behalf of the country. These include the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the South Caucasus gas pipeline. These pipelines are of great importance as the main arteries connecting both our neighbors and us with the rest of the world," Baylarbayov said.
Describing Azerbaijan's pipeline network as a vital "artery" linking Caspian gas to Europe, the SOCAR official said the strongest guarantee of energy security is reliable partnerships.
"The best security you can provide is to be transparent and to be able to live and work together in a changing world. Above all, you need to maintain good relations with your neighbors, as well as with all the countries with which you have long-term partnerships," he said.
The Business Horizons program noted that the approximately 3,500-kilometer Southern Gas Corridor is one of the most important energy infrastructure projects connecting the Caspian Sea with European markets. Azerbaijani gas is transported to Europe through a three-pipeline system and, after connecting to the European network, reaches a number of countries, including Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Germany and Austria. The program noted that Italy remained Azerbaijan's largest customer in Europe in 2025, importing approximately 9.5 billion cubic meters of gas.
SOCAR Chief Operations Officer Elkhan Sultanov said in an interview with the program that the company's primary objective is to deliver energy resources to consumers safely and without interruption.
"Our priority is very simple — to deliver crude oil to our customers safely, reliably, without interruption and efficiently," he said.
According to Sultanov, ensuring the reliable operation of thousands of kilometers of pipelines requires continuous monitoring.
"The pipeline system operates continuously over long distances. Therefore, maintaining the integrity and reliability of the system at a high level requires constant monitoring by our team," he said.
Sultanov stressed that precision is a decisive factor in the energy sector.
"I believe precision is of critical importance in our field because even a small deviation can have serious consequences for safety, efficiency and operational performance," he said.
He added that pipelines are not merely infrastructure but complex systems requiring a high level of professionalism and advanced technologies.
The program concluded by emphasizing that energy security depends not only on resources but also on sustainable cooperation, trust and long-term partnerships.
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