Azerbaijan, Baku, June 4 / Trend E.Tariverdiyeva /
The Southern Energy Corridor is an important milestone in development of the oil and gas sector in the region, the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan and Ex-Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs coordinating US energy policy in the regions surrounding the Black and Caspian Seas, Matthew Bryza, told Trend.
He said perhaps, new projects will soon appear and be included in this corridor, or become independent projects.
"From the standpoint of the United States and the West in general, the main goal is not any individual project delivering energy from the Caspian region to Europe. The appearance of the Southern Corridor - project that will provide an opportunity to export its gas to Europe, first to Azerbaijan, and then other countries such as Turkmenistan, and perhaps to Iraq in the future, is important for us," Bryza said.
The Southern Corridor is a priority EU energy project diversifying energy supply routes and sources and increasing EU energy security. The Southern Corridor includes the Nabucco gas pipeline, Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), White Stream, and ITGI (Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline).
Bryza said projects such as Nabucco, ITGI and TAP may serve for such supplies, because their realization is absolutely equivalent for the West.
The realization of the Southern Corridor is important for the EU and U.S , he said.
Estimates that the cost of the Nabucco project may increase, does not mean a threat to its realization, as the cost of all such projects increase simultaneously, Bryza said. After all, the cost of the Nabucco project rises due to the increase in prices for metal and services that impacts all projects.
"I believe the West is doing everything necessary to support the Southern Corridor projects. Participants of the Shah-Deniz Consortium will make a decision by late October, which is likely to be the most commercially viable," he added.
He said Europe had already done a lot in this matter, contributing to the process of agreements among countries and companies.