European Commission: EU wants to be ensured in scalability of pipeline to transport Caspian gas

Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 30 / Trend V. Zhavoronkova/

The European Union wants to be ensured that the pipeline, aimed to transport Caspian gas to Europe, will be scalable, a source in the Energy Department of the European Commission told Trend on Friday.

"The EU's policy is to see a dedicated Southern Gas Corridor Gas pipeline to be built outside the EU, and if its capacity is limited at first, it should be ensured to legally and technically increase the capacity to transport higher volumes at a later stage, when this become available, making the pipeline capacity scalable," the source said.

If the sides plan the Southern Gas Corridor with only 10 BCM a year for the longer term, then it simply isn't worth all the effort, said the EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger speaking at the Frankfurt Gas Forum 2012, adding that the EU is expected to require around 600 BCM a year in the longer term.

The volume of gas production in Azerbaijan will reach 50 billion cubic meters a year by 2014, first vice-president of State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) Khoshbakht Yusifzadeh said at the meeting of the Caspian-European Integration Business Club (CEIBC) on Monday.

The volume of gas production in Azerbaijan will reach 50 billion cubic meters a year by 2014, first vice-president of State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) Khoshbakht Yusifzadeh said at the meeting of the Caspian-European Integration Business Club (CEIBC) on Monday.

Commenting Oettinger's statement, the source said that the EU's position in the issue of transportation of Caspian gas to Europe did not change.

"Not only is more gas expected to come from Azerbaijan, but also from Turkmenistan through the Trans Caspian Pipeline that is currently being discussed, as well as possibly from Iraq," the source added.

The Southern Gas Corridor is a major energy project for the EU. It is intended to diversify routes and sources of supply.

It is aimed at ensuring EU energy security. Gas which will be produced during the second stage of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field development is considered as the main source for the Souther Gas Corridor projects.