Azerbaijan, Baku, May 29 / Trend A.Badalova /
Nabucco gas pipeline project's original conception is still an option to transport Azerbaijani gas to the European markets, vice-president of State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) Elshad Nasirov told Die Presse, Reuters reported.
"For us Nabucco is still an option because the proposed alternative Trans Anatolian (TANAP) pipeline through Turkey is so far just a concept," Nasirov said.
Last week BP's official representative said that original concept of Nabucco gas pipeline project is no longer considered as a possible export route for Azerbaijani gas. According to him, the partners on Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field development are now considering only two options to transport gas - Nabucco West, which is a shorter version of original project and the South East Europe Pipeline (SEEP).
"We informed BP that we do not agree with this comment. BP apologized and described the comment as a private opinion," Nasirov said.
According to Nasirov, "Nabucco West", which is a shorter version of Nabucco project's original concept, has a "50-50" chance of being selected should the TANAP pipeline go through.
He also added that TANAP would be smaller and cheaper than Nabucco and could then be expanded later if needed.
Nabucco project's original concept envisages the construction of the pipeline with the length at 3,900 kilometres from the Georgian-Turkish and Iraqi-Turkish borders to Baumgarten. The pipeline is expected to run through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria.
According to a new conception of the project, the pipeline will be laid from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to the Austrian Baumgarten.
Azerbaijan and Turkey plan to create a pipeline from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border. At present the Turkish state owned energy company BOTAS has a 20 per cent stake in TANAP, while the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) holds 80 per cent in the project.
The initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters per year. About six billion cubic meters of the volume will be allocated to Turkey, while the rest will be transported to Europe.