FT: Decision time for BP-led group on route of Caspian gas pipeline
It’s crunch time for one of the EU’s most ambitious infrastructure projects, as a crucial decision looms on the route of a new pipeline to bring gas from the Caspian to the heart of Europe.
By the end of the month, a BP-led consortium developing a massive gasfield off the coast of Azerbaijan called Shah Deniz II must choose how the gas will be delivered to Europe.
They must decide between two rival projects: one going to Austria, called Nabucco West, and the other ending in Italy, called the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, or TAP.
But behind those dry facts lies a long, combustible saga of geopolitical intrigue, bitter corporate rivalry and intense debate about the future of Europe’s energy needs.
It has been a hard-fought battle in which some of the continent’s largest energy companies have devoted vast resources to complex commercial negotiations, delicate great-power diplomacy and intense lobbying from Brussels to Baku. And the outcome is too close to call. MORE