While the military clash between Azerbaijan and Armenia receives great regional attention, there is another issue that poses a great threat to energy markets, in light of the intensification of the conflict over the Caspian Sea.
What are the implications of this on the Turkish economic interests on the one hand, and the interests of the parties to the conflict on the other hand?
What is the volume of oil and gas pipelines in conflict areas?
Increased military actions on both sides may exacerbate the risk to the current regional oil and gas infrastructure, and Turkey will also be hit hard if the conflict escalates, as it relies heavily on oil and gas from that region.
In this regard, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara would never hesitate to confront the attack on the rights and lands of Azerbaijan, suggesting that there is a wider conspiracy behind the recent fighting in it.
A member of the Azerbaijani parliament, Ganira Pashayeva, told Anadolu Agency that Armenia seeks, through the attacks it carries out from time to time, to control some strategic heights that put the joint Turkish-Azerbaijani energy and transport projects in the region within their range of fire.
In a press conference, Ilshad Nasirov, Vice President of the National Energy Corporation of Azerbaijan "SOCAR", said that the energy infrastructure associated with the shipment of oil and gas from the Caspian Sea to world markets is located near the current military operations.
Although the Organization for European Cooperation and Security (OCSE) established what was called a "Minsk" group to oversee negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, it was unable to achieve any progress in the diplomatic track, due to geopolitical and economic reasons of concern to regional and international powers, Which keeps the conflict open to all scenarios.
Russia considers Armenia an important card in the ongoing conflict between Moscow on the one hand, and European countries and Turkey on the other hand, to control the oil and gas pipelines coming from the Caspian Sea, whose lines intersect in this sensitive region.
Erdogan said that Ankara would never hesitate to confront the attack on the rights and lands of Azerbaijan (Reuters)
Economic interests
From Istanbul, the researcher on Turkish economic affairs, Ahmed Mosbeh, considered that the economic dimension is one of the most important pillars of the strategic alliance between Turkey and Azerbaijan, Turkey is the second largest market for Azerbaijani exports with a value of $ 1.85 billion, and the total volume of trade exchange between the two parties is $ 3.3 billion, and the two countries aim to increase the volume of exchange. Commercial to $ 15 billion over the next three years.
"Far from the historical and cultural ties, Azerbaijan is the second largest gas supplier to Turkey after Russia, and Turkey is linked to Azerbaijan through the gas transport corridor (TANAP), which links Azerbaijan and Europe with a length of 3,500 km," Musabeh told Al-Jazeera Net.
This project gives Turkey a greater role in the global energy level, as it enables it to secure its energy needs, as well as contribute to the security of energy supplies to Europe, and this project aims to transfer 16 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas annually, according to the same spokesman.
Mosbeh added, "Turkey receives nearly one million tourists annually from Azerbaijan, and in 2017 an international railway linking Azerbaijan and Turkey via Georgia" Baku-Tbilisi-Kars "was opened, aiming to transport one million passengers annually, in addition to 6.5 million tons of goods between countries. The three, as the line contributes - by connecting it between Turkey, Asia, the Caucasus and European countries - in transporting 50 million tons of goods every year.
He pointed out that all these numbers and strategic projects represent focal points in the project of Turkey 2023, due to the commercial and economic influence it provides to Turkey, and the strengthening of its position at the regional and international levels, which gives Turkey more space in the international arena, and therefore Azerbaijan's security and economic stability is a central issue. For Turkey and its future plans.
Caspian sea
The recent renewed military clash in the Nagorno Karabakh region brought the attention of the international community back to the Caspian Sea, which is the largest closed water body in the world, with an area of about 370 thousand square kilometers, which turns again into a cause of geopolitical discord.
20 oil and gas fields and 250 oil sedimentary sectors were discovered in the Caspian Sea, but experts estimate the proportion of oil in commercial volumes at 12-15%, and the amount of proven oilfield resources ranges between 24 and 26 billion tons.
According to Russian specialists, the estimates of Western experts of the discovered hydrocarbon reserves exceed the realistic figures many times, especially with regard to estimating the size of the oil and gas reserves in the Azerbaijani sector from the sea, for example, the American experts' estimates of Baku's hydrocarbon resources exceeded the estimates of their Russian colleagues.
According to a report reported by the "Oil Price" website, the Caucasus region is a major global terminal for the transportation of oil and gas, and it includes Russia, Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Central Asian countries. The proximity of the current clashes to Baku-Turkey oil and gas pipelines has become a source of concern for specialists and observers. For energy markets.
According to "Oil Price", the threats to these important pipelines for oil and gas not only link Central Asian producers to global markets, but also work to stabilize the region, due to their economic and developmental impacts in the region that these pipelines finance.
By obtaining Azerbaijani gas through the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline, Turkey was able to significantly reduce its costs, and the Azerbaijani-Turkish partnership could deepen further with the emergence of a new opportunity in 2021 when the main gas deal between Turkey and Russia is awaiting renewal.