Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Azerbaijan says that the Nabucco West pipeline designed to transport Caspian natural gas to Europe has not lost its significance as Industry and Energy Minister Natig Aliyev said that the project can still be implemented.

"Two projects -- Nabucco West and Trans-Adriatic Pipeline -- have different goals and the choice of TAP does not rule out the implementation of Nabucco," Aliyev told media on Sept. 2.

In late June, the consortium of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field development officially announced the selection of TAP as the route to transport its gas to Europe. Another pipeline which was vying for Azerbaijani gas transportation to Europe was Nabucco West.

The decision marked the launch of the Southern Gas Corridor -- a project which will enable Europe to diversify its supply sources and increase its energy security.

Referring to the project realization, Aliyev said that the main issue is the amount of resources.

"The implementation of Nabucco will depend on expansion of the resource base - natural gas volumes, while the implementation of the TAP project should give an impetus not only to gas extraction, but also discovering new reserves.

"I am sure that Azerbaijan has great opportunities in gas extraction. The country can extract 40 billion cubic meters of gas per year after 2020. It will be possible if TAP and TANAP launch on time and if partner companies continue working hard," he said.

He said that the choice of the TAP project as an export route for Azerbaijani gas will give a big push to increasing gas production in the country. "This project will push other foreign companies operating in Azerbaijan to speed up gas production in the fields where they work."

Aliyev also noted that no increase is expected in the demand for natural gas for TAP.

Turkey also recently announced that the country is still interested in the project and considers its implementation.

Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said that considering the growing demand for natural gas in the European Union, Turkey is confident that the Nabucco project will also be implemented.

According to him, Nabucco and TAP are not rival projects, on the contrary, they could complement each other.

Earlier, Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev said that Bulgaria will work together with its partners for its implementation.

"I am sure that the Nabucco West project retains its strategic importance for the European energy policy and has its place on the map of Europe," he said.

However, in late August, Romania rejected the Nabucco gas pipeline project. Romanian President Traian Basescu appealed to the European Union to regain 23 million euros spent by Bucharest on the Nabucco West project to help the country reduce its dependence on Russian giant Gasprom.

According to the Romanian president, Bucharest has the right to receive compensation given that his country has never hesitated to make a choice between the Russian gas pipeline project South Stream and Nabucco, firmly expressing support for participation in the latter project as it 'complies with EU interests'.

Nabucco West is a short-cut version of the Nabucco project, which envisages construction of a pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria.

TAP is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and then to Western Europe. Initial capacity of the TAP pipeline will be 10 billion cubic meters per year with the possibility of expanding it to 20 billion cubic meters.