Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.20
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
The future of connecting Israeli gas to the Southern Gas Corridor is unclear, to say the least, Sijbren de Jong, analyst at The Hague Center for Strategic Studies and expert in energy security told Trend Oct.20.
Earlier, Cemil Ertem, advisor to the Turkish president, said that Turkey wants to connect Israeli gas supplies to the Southern Gas Corridor project.
The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. It envisages the transportation of 10 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas from the Caspian region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey.
At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor project. Other sources can also join this project at a later stage.
As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of TANAP and TAP.
“For the Israel-Turkey pipeline, there are essentially two routes possible: through Lebanese and Syrian waters or via Cypriot waters,” de Jong said.
The war in Syria rules out the first option, and the second route also is fraught with difficulties, he said, adding that so, the future of this pipeline is unclear.
“Should it be built however, then I see no difficulties to connect it to the TANAP pipeline, provided the necessary infrastructure gets built,” the expert added.
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