Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Switzerland supports the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) among the projects designed to transport Caspian gas to Europe, Deputy Energy Minister Walter Steinmann said at a meeting with the head of Azerbaijani state energy company SOCAR, Rovnag Abdullayev, in Baku on Thursday, Trend news agency reported.

According to SOCAR, during the meeting Steinmann spoke about the work carried out by the Swiss side for the implementation of the TAP project.

Abdullayev stressed his country's interest in diversifying Azerbaijan's gas export routes to Europe and providing European energy security.

Steinmann underscored the importance of projects implemented by SOCAR in Switzerland, citing good prospects for cooperation of Azerbaijan and Switzerland in the fields of petrochemicals and renewable energy sources.

Abdullayev expressed confidence in further cooperation of the two countries. He also said that the projects on creating new oil and gas refineries and petrochemicals facilities around the Azerbaijani capital Baku play an important role in increasing the export potential of Azerbaijan.

Trans Adriatic Pipeline is currently one of the two options -- besides Nabucco West -- which is considered by the consortium developing Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas-condensate field in the Caspian Sea to deliver gas to European markets. The final decision on a pipeline route is expected this year.

TAP is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region via Greece and Albania and across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and further into western Europe. Gas to be produced within the second phase of Shah Deniz field development will be the main source for TAP.

TAP's initial pipeline capacity will be 10 billion cubic meters per year, but is expandable to 20 billion cubic meters.

Nabucco West is a short-cut version of the Nabucco project, which envisages construction of a pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria.