Washington, DC - In Baku, Special Envoy Hochstein will represent the United States at a February 29 meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council – the second meeting of this Council. He will meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, EU Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic, Bulgarian Minister of Energy Temenuzhka Petkova, Turkish Minister of Energy Berat Albayrak, Greek Minister of Energy Panos Skourletis, and other ministers of energy and officials from Southern Gas Corridor member countries, as well as representatives of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and private sector companies.

On March 1, Special Envoy Hochstein will travel to Sofia to meet with senior government officials to discuss regional energy security.

In Croatia, Special Envoy Hochstein will meet with members of the newly elected government to discuss regional energy security issues including natural gas interconnectors, a potential plan to import natural gas via a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility, and domestic oil and gas exploration.

The Southern Gas Corridor, an ambitious plan to unlock a market for Azerbaijan’s Caspian Sea gas, enhance regional cooperation, and provide energy security for Europe, is a longstanding Administration priority. Gas from the second phase of the Shah Deniz gas field will be routed through the expansion of the South Caucasus pipeline in Azerbaijan, extending through Georgia to Turkey. Via the Trans-Anatolian pipeline (TANAP), gas will be provided for Turkish domestic use and transit to the Trans-Adriatic pipeline (TAP) that will take the gas from the Turkish-Greek border through Albania and on to Italy for use elsewhere in Europe.