European Energy Supply and Consumption: Effects on the European Energy Security, with Specific Reference to the Southern Corridor

The  recent  ratification  of  the  Final  Investment  Decision  on  the  development  of  the  Azerbaijani offshore  Shah  Deniz  natural  gas  field has  given the  final  green  light  to  the  long-awaited EU’s Southern Gas Corridor. The  Southern  Corridor will  diversify  European  natural  gas  supply  in  a  context  of  growing dependence on energy imports. However, its impact on the European energy security needs to be assessed considering the capacity of the infrastructures currently under construction and the real scalability of the project. All the gas exported through the Southern Corridor is expected to come from Azerbaijani fields. In order to expand the Southern Corridor up to a size able to significantly impact the structure of  the European  supply, other producing countries need to be added on the upstream  side. However, political  and  economic  issue is could reduce  the  possibilities for the  upstream side  to  expand beyond  Azerbaijan and  scale up  the  Southern Corridor  as  an  effective  and  reliable   diversification source with a EU-wide impact.