Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 22 / Trend A.Badalova /
The consortium of the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field development will make a decision on a preferable pipeline route to transport gas to Europe by the middle of 2013, Dow Jones reported on Wednesday with the reference to Austrian OMV's CEO Gerhard Roiss.
"The [Shah Deniz] consortium has told us that they will definitely decide by middle of 2013," Roiss said.
Azerbaijan plans to export 10 billion cubic metres of gas to Europe within the second stage of Shah Deniz field development.
Shah Deniz consortium is currently considering three possible export routes - Nabucco, South East Europe Pipeline (SEEP) and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) projects.
Earlier the consortium said it does not consider ITGI (Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy) as the project to deliver Azerbaijani gas to the European markets and makes TAP a priority route for export of gas to Italy. The decision was made in accordance with the previously announced criteria for the export of gas from Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field to the European countries.
OMV is one of the six shareholders in Nabucco gas pipeline project, which is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region and Middle East to the European countries. The project's other shareholders include Bulgarian Energy Holding, Turkish Botas, German RWE, Hungary's FGSZ and Romanian Transgaz.