Azerbaijan could choose alternative to Nabucco pipeline
BAKU. Oct 18 (Interfax) - Azerbaijan could choose to use an alternative to the Nabucco pipeline for exporting its gas to Europe, to serve as an example for the rest of the countries of the region, John Roberts, an energy security specialist with Platts, said.
"If in the next few months we see a real, proper agreement on the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline, it will really strengthen the argument for using Nabucco. But in my personal opinion, Azerbaijan might have to decide on the pipeline to Europe before we receive any sort of solid agreement with Turkmenistan on a pipeline through the Caspian Sea," Roberts told Interfax.
Roberts did not rule out the likelihood of Azerbaijan choosing an alternative project to Nabucco, considering its scope and expense.
"It is more likely that Azerbaijan will choose one of the alternative options," he said.
The State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR), as leader of the group negotiating the export of gas from the Shah Deniz field, has received final proposals from three main pipeline projects on delivering Azerbaijani gas to Europe - the Italy-Turkey-Greece Interconnector (ITGI), the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and Nabucco.
Azerbaijani gas will be delivered to Europe in the framework of the Stage-2 development of the Shah Deniz field. The cost of Stage-2 is estimated at $20 billion. Annual extraction volume will be 16 bcm of gas. Initial Stage-2 output was planned for 2012, but in light of unresolved gas-transit issues, the timeframe has been pushed back to 2017
The Shah Deniz project members are BP (operator, 25.5%), Statoil (25.5%), SOCAR (10%), Lukoil (10%), NICO (10%), Total (10%) and TPAO (9%). The development contract was signed on June 4, 1996.