Azerbaijan, Baku, April 2 / Trend A.Badalova /
Gas supplies to the South Eastern and Central Europe will be of a higher priority for the EU, as these regions feel much need for energy supply diversification, editor-in-chief at Eurasia Energy Observer Andrej Tibold said.
Tibold said that European markets are in a higher need for diversification their energy supplies and Caspian gas for this goal.
"In this case a pipeline supplying South Eastern Europe and Central Europe, such as Nabucco West or SEEP, is of a higher priority, from the EU's point of view, than a pipeline, such as TAP, which mainly aims to supply the Italian market," Tibold wrote Trend via e-mail.
The supplies to the Italian market are more diversified than in South Eastern or Central Europe, he said.
Southern Gas Corridor project is the priority one for the EU in terms of energy supplies diversification.
Gas, which will be produced during the second phase of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field, is considered as the main source for all Southern Gas Corridor projects. Azerbaijan is going to export 10 billion cubic metres of gas per year within the Shah Deniz-2 project.
Currently the Shah Deniz consortium is considering several options to export gas to the Southern and Central Europe, which include Nabucco West and SEEP (South-East Europe Pipeline, proposed by BP).
Earlier the consortium made TAP (Trans Adriatic Pipeline) a priority route for export of Azerbaijani gas to Italy.
By late June, 2012, it will choose the pipeline route to the Southern and Central Europe.
The final decision on a pipeline route to export Azerbaijani gas to the European markets is expected to be made in 2013.
Tibold also said that a concurrent realization of the pipelines should not be excluded.