Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan has reportedly warned the European Union that it might redirect supplies of its gas to Asian markets, turning down its role of Brussels’ key energy partner in the resource-rich Caspian region.
"It is impossible to deliver gas there [to Europe]," Russia’s Lenta.ru news website reported quoting Elshad Nasirov, Vice-President of the Azeri state oil company SOCAR.
Though the website was not specific where Nasirov made the statement, it claimed that the SOCAR vice-president had made such remarks in the past. The report said that Nasirov had stated that Baku could redirect gas exports from Europe to Asia if the EU delays setting fees within the Nabucco pipeline, which seeks to pump Caspian and Central Asian gas to European markets while bypassing Russia.
The strongly-worded statement reportedly came after a setback in talks between Azerbaijan and Turkey, which is a major consumer of the South Caucasus republic’s gas and a potential transit state for its deliveries to Europe. Ankara demands that SOCAR offer a lower price for gas, which does not suit Baku. The differences are actually playing into Moscow’s hands due to their undermining confidence in the Western-backed Nabucco project.
Turkey is buying SOCAR’s gas for $120 per 1,000 cubic meters but pays as much as $250 for Russian fuel.
Russian daily Vremya Novostey earlier reported that Russia, which previously signed a contract on gas deliveries with SOCAR, will be paying $190. Though the volume of supplies is insignificant - 500 million cubic meters a year - it could be increased in the future if this is deemed by Baku and Moscow as necessary.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in October that Turkey had deadlocked talks on gas deliveries, is refusing to pay world-market prices for Azerbaijan’s gas and seeking a high fee for the transit of fuel. President Aliyev also warned the country could seek other buyers of its gas, such as Russia and Iran.
Baku’s options include joining a gas pipeline project from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to China, whose growing economy requires more and more energy resources. In fact, Turkmenistan has already decided to redirect part of its gas exports to China and increase the bulk of gas exports to Iran.
The 3,300-kilometer Nabucco pipeline, which is to pump gas via Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Austria, is due to be commissioned in 2014. According to Lenta.ru, sources of gas to fill the pipeline are yet to be found. Until recently, Azerbaijan had been considered the only country that could supply fuel, but its capacities do not suffice to fully fill the conduit, the report claimed.
Nabucco is deemed as a rival route for the Moscow-backed South Stream pipeline, which is being built by the Russian gas behemoth Gazprom and Italy's ENI.*