Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 6 / Trend A.Badalova/
Nabucco West gas pipeline is best placed to access the Balkan countries, the source in Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH told Trend.
"Nabucco is in fact best placed to access the Balkan markets because of the existing interconnection possibilities from the transit countries Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria," the source told Trend via e-mail.
According to the source, infrastructure already exists to transport gas through Nabucco pipeline to Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Slovenia, and Italy, and through the construction of a few, short interconnectors - to Montenegro, Greece and Albania.
Earlier official representative of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) said that selling as much gas as possible to the Balkan countries is a priority for the company as these countries are willing to buy Azerbaijani gas and due to their close location to the production side.
The source in Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH said that in addition Nabucco connects directly to Baumgarten (Austria), which is a liquid market.
"Also, there are over 16 billion cubic meters (bcm) of combined storage capacities along the Nabucco route, which promotes energy security and significant business opportunities in these countries," the source said.
"Therefore, Nabucco is perfectly positioned to access the growing markets of South East Europe and Central Europe," the source added.
Currently, the Shah Deniz consortium is considering two options for its gas transportation to Europe - TAP and Nabucco West. The final decision on the pipeline route will be made in June, 2013.
Nabucco West is a short-cut version of Nabucco project, which envisages construction of the pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria.
The project's current shareholders are Bulgarian Energy Holding, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas, Austrian OMV, German RWE and Hungary's FGSZ.