Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 10 / Trend /
Azer Ahmedbeyli, Trend analytical centre expert
Many leading politicians and economists from around the world are unanimous that the main problem of the European Union is the poor integration in the management and imbalance in the economies of member countries, which, in particular, prevents the EU from overcoming the economic crisis and debt crisis of the Euro Area. Too slow decision-making related to the overly cumbersome legislative regulation and the presence of a large bureaucracy - these factors make the EU awkward subject of relations compared for example with bilateral partnership. This was clearly demonstrated last fall by Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov who concluded a deal in Baku to supply 1 billion of gas annually by 2015, and demonstrated, he said, to Europe, how it is possible to deal with Azerbaijan.
The EU for ten years has advertised as it could "Nabucco" - its priority project, but was unable to move from words to deeds. By the way, China for the past three years has extended from the Central Asia two branches of Central Asia-China gas pipeline with the capacity of 30 billion cubic meters, has begun with Uzbekistan construction of the third branch with the design capacity of 25 billion cubic meters, concluded a long-term agreements with Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for supply and delivery of the natural gas, extended from Kazakhstan oil pipeline with capacity of 12 million tons, invested $4 billion in the second stage of industrial development of the largest Yoloten field, in a word, acted decisively and achieved desired goals.
Very soon a decision on the route of delivery of Caspian gas to Europe within the Southern Gas Corridor will be taken. The EU's inability to act as a united front due to differences in the interests of countries, hidden behind talk of the coming dramatic changes in the European gas market in the near future, where, ostensibly, LNG and shale gas will burst, will move Azerbaijan in the direction of option most reliable and financially independent from the EU. This option is at the junction of the interests of Azerbaijan and BP, the traditional and reliable partner of the country. SEEP project, suggested by BP, in a broader sense can be considered as own project of "Shah Deniz" consortium, which also includes SOCAR, and the project TANAP will be initiated and built by Azerbaijan and Turkey. Reconciling the interests of the parties, it is possible with minimal risk to combine both projects and open the energy corridor to Europe.
By the way Gyulmira Rzayeva from the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of Azerbaijan said directly the same thing at the European Gas Conference in Vienna. "Large, politicized pipelines is a relic of Soviet times. SEEP and TANAP are the real answer to the question: how to deliver 8-10 billion cubic meters of Azeri gas from Shah Deniz-2 to Europe at the most acceptable price".