Azerbaijan to make final decision on Nabucco participation by next year

PanARMENIAN.Net - By the end of 2011, Azerbaijan will make a final decision on Nabucco participation, Rovnag Abdullayev, head of state oil company Socar, said.

As he noted earlier, Azerbaijan is in talks to deliver natural gas to the Nabucco pipeline consortium from the Shah Deniz-2 field and will make a final decision on an export route to Europe by Oct. 1.

The European Union-backed Nabucco pipeline project competes with other pipeline projects such as South Stream to deliver gas from Azerbaijan to Europe, but the choice of route will depend on proposed transportation tariffs, Abdullayev said.

"Only after the decision on transportation tariffs, we can keep the specific work with buyers," he said.

The issue will be discussed during an upcoming visit to Baku by E.U. Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger on June 6-7, the head of the E.U. delegation in Azerbaijan Roland Kobia noted.

"We are now at the stage where all options are open and we are well aware that Azerbaijan will take its time to determine its decision," The Wall Street Journal quoted Kobia as saying.