Azerbaijan, Baku, April 5 / Trend A.Badalova /
If other countries would like to cross Azerbaijan with their oil, gas, or energy resources, we will do our best to deliver it across our territories, the Ministry of Industry and Energy of Azerbaijan told in "The Business Year" journal in his interview.
He noted that the nego¬tiations are held with Turkmenistan about the construction of a cross-Caspian pipeline. "We are talking about the obstacles, circumstances, and volumes, as there are some issues that have not yet been solved," Aliyev said.
Trans-Caspian gas pipeline running to around 300 kilometers will be laid from the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijani, where it will be linked to the Southern Gas Corridor. Negotiations between Turkmenistan and the EU and other countries on the construction of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline have been on-going since the late 90s.
In September, 2011 the EU Council gave a mandate for negotiations between the EU, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to build the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline. However, later, Iran and Russia expressed negative attitude toward this project. Tehran and Moscow think that the pipeline construction will damage the Caspian Sea environment.
The minister noted that Azerbaijan increasing its gas and oil reserves became a regional energy hub. "Our main goal is to produce this oil and gas, and the second is to deliver it to foreign markets," Aliyev said.
He also noted that in 2012 Azerbaijan made tremendous progress in the issue of gas transportation to Europe. "The Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) will be an extraordinary project for Azerbaijan and Turkey because it ties the two countries to Europe," he said.
TANAP project envisages construction of the pipeline from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border to supply gas from Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas field to Europe through Turkey. The initial capacity of the pipeline is expected to reach 16 billion cubic meters a year. About six billion cubic meters will be delivered to Turkey, and the rest - to Europe.