Azernews.Az

A decision to select the route for Azerbaijani gas exports to Europe may be delayed until early next year, according to the head of Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR.

Rovnag Abdullayev said Monday that the proposals on gas export routes are being studied and thoroughly reviewed.

"No goal was set out to pass a decision to choose the route by the end of the year. If the decision is not adopted by the year-end, this process will be completed in the first quarter of 2012," Abdullayev said.

Gas to be produced during the second stage of developing Shahdaniz, Azerbaijan’s largest gas field in the Caspian Sea, is considered the main source for the projects within the Southern Corridor, a priority EU energy project diversifying supply routes and sources and increasing EU energy security. It includes the Nabucco, Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy (ITGI) pipelines. Azerbaijan plans to supply 10 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe from 2017 within the Shahdaniz 2 project.

On October 1, all three pipeline projects submitted their final proposals to Azerbaijan, which are being reviewed based on criteria including commercial attractiveness, technical and financial issues, engineering and design work, the possibility of a phased scale-up, etc.

The Shahdaniz field, which holds estimated reserves of 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas, is being tapped by an international consortium. Shahdaniz shareholders are: BP (operator - 25.5 percent), Statoil (25.5 percent), NICO (10 percent), Total (10 percent), Lukoil (10 percent), TPAO (9 percent) and SOCAR (10 percent).