Azernews.Az

The European Commission may support a combination of pipelines instead of a single conduit to transport Caspian gas to European markets, the EC’s energy department has said.

"It might be a combination of pipelines, but they should meet our requirements," Marlene Holzner, spokesperson of EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger, told Azerbaijan’s Trend news agency over the phone from Brussels.

If there are smaller pipelines, they should not have less capacity than Nabucco, Holzner said.

"If there are smaller pipelines, but they have the same purpose - to get the gas to Europe, have the same capacity as Nabucco -- even if not now, then in future -- and an international contract is in place, we will welcome these pipelines," Holzner said.

She noted that the EU was committed to its strategy aiming to have direct access to gas in the Caspian region.

The spokesperson said Nabucco is still the EU’s priority project, but other projects remain topical.

"It is fully in line with our objectives - if it is not Nabucco, it might be another pipeline, which will bring gas to Europe," Holzner said.

Nabucco gas pipeline is one of the Southern Gas Corridor projects, which is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region and Middle East to European countries. Gas to be produced during the second stage of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field development is considered the main source for Nabucco. The pipeline’s initial capacity is 31 billion cubic meters.