SOCAR: Nabucco Still In to Win Shah Deniz Competition

A SOCAR official has said that the Nabucco West project is still in the running to be the pipeline to carry gas from the Azeri Shah Deniz field.

In a statement to Reuters yesterday, SOCAR's German spokesperson Elmar Mamedov said that the company was still in discussions with both the Nabucco consortium and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) consortium to decide on the best route for the gas.

Further to this, he said that a decision by SOCAR in February this year to deal with the TAP consortium exclusively on the southerly route for the pipeline did not indicate the favouring of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.

"The agreement with TAP gives the partners more legal and planning security," he said. "It is not a decision against Nabucco-West."

Mr. Mamedov said that SOCAR wished to reached the same agreement with Nabucco as it did with TAP in February this year. TAP will be the pipeline chosen should the Shah Deniz consortium decide to route its gas through Italy. The Nabucco West pipeline will be favoured should the Shah Deniz consortium wish to take a more northerly route through Austria for the gas.