EU still supports Nabucco concept

The EU still supports Nabucco project's conception which envisages the transportation of gas from the Caspian region and Middle East to the European countries, head of the EU delegation to Azerbaijan, Ambassador Roland Kobia said at a press conference in Baku on Tuesday.

"We still support Nabucco project, and notably the concept of Nabucco, which means bringing big quantities of gas through a dedicated pipeline," Kobia said.

Kobia stressed Nabucco project "is still alive", and the consortium of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas field development is still keeping it as an option for its final decision.

He also added that the EU hopes that if Nabucco project is not selected, the pipeline that will be chosen will keep all the things that had been acquired and negotiated by Nabucco in order to reuse them for the transit.

Today, Azerbaijan considers three proposals for the transportation of gas to Europe - Nabucco, TAP (Trans Adriatic Pipeline) and SEEP (South-East Europe Pipeline, proposed by BP).

In addition Azerbaijan and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the consortium that will build the Trans Anadolu Pipeline (TANAP) for supply of gas from Shah Deniz gas field to Europe through Turkey.

With regard to TANAP Kobia said that it is for the time being an idea, concept and it is not yet a detailed project.

"The whole point of TANAP is to create dedicated new infrastructure that would be scalable," Kobia said, adding that for the time being, the EU welcomes TANAP, based on the available information.


/Trend/