Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

Senior Fellow of the Jamestown Foundation Vladimir Socor believes that the Southern Gas Corridor energy project meets the interests of the United States.

Addressing a briefing organized upon the Azerbaijani embassy's initiative at the US Senate on Tuesday, Socor also stressed the importance of Washington's support for the project.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the EU's priority energy projects aimed at diversifying the routes and sources of energy supply, thereby increasing secure delivery. Gas which will be produced during the second stage of the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field development is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects.

The expert informed in detail about the importance of the Southern Gas Corridor in terms of energy security in Europe and the leading role of Azerbaijan in the project.

Socor highlighted the importance of Azerbaijani gas supply to European markets, which will help to reduce the current energy dependency of Europe.

Noting the economic effectiveness of the project, the expert said that the project will positively affect energy security in the region.

It is planned to produce 16 billion cubic meters of gas during the second stage of Shah Deniz field development, which is expected to obtain first gas in 2018. Azerbaijan plans to export 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Europe during this stage.

The Shah Deniz consortium is considering TAP and Nabucco West pipelines as options for gas transportation to Europe. A final decision on the pipeline route is due to be made in June 2013.

The TAP project 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. TAP's initial capacity will be 10 billion cubic meters per year, but it is easily 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. Designated capacity of the project is up to 31 billion cubic meters per year.