Azerbaijan, Baku, May 24 / Trend /
Representatives of the Governments of Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia signed a memorandum of understanding, support and cooperation in the construction of two new pipelines - the Trans-Adriatic (Trans Adriatic Pipeline, TAP) and the Ionian-Adriatic (Ionian Adriatic Pipeline, IAP), RIA Novosti reported according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro.
The MOU was signed on Thursday in Tirana.
The parties undertook to promote the development, financing and implementation of projects for the construction of gas pipelines, as well as domestic markets prepare to receive gas from Azerbaijan and the Caspian region.
"States Parties expressed their full support to the projects TAP and IAP, thereby declaring commitment to the EU's diversification and security of gas supplies to Europe," - said in a statement.
Nabucco West is a short-cut version of Nabucco project, which provides for construction of a pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria. Gas to be produced within the second phase of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field development is considered as the main source for the project.
Currently the Shah Deniz consortium is considering two options for transporting its gas to the European markets - Nabucco West and TAP (Trans Adriatic Pipeline). The final decision on the European pipeline is expected to be made by late June 2013.
Nabucco West project's current shareholders are Bulgarian Energy Holding, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas, Austrian OMV and Hungary's FGSZ.