Caspian Oil and Gas 2011: preliminary results

Baku is hosting an international forum addressing most important issues of the energy sector. The traditional exhibition Caspian Oil and Gas 2011 was launched on the first Tuesday of June. Representatives of 300 companies from 28 countries, businessmen as well as scientists, are participating in it. The European Commissioner for Energy, Günther Oettinger, and the US Secretary of State's Special
Representative for Energy, Richard Morningstar, also took part in the Baku event.

This dialogue between international energy magnates and the Azerbaijani government is growing even more important now that the‘Shah Deniz’ gas field development management company is about to finalize the project of Azerbaijani gas delivery to Europe. The major Turkish pipeline constructing company Botas, as well as such EU corporations as ITGI (Interconnect Turkey-Greece-Italy) Poseidon, TAP (TransAdriatic Pipeline) and the Nabucco consortium are considered as possible partners for this delivery system. The Baku government is yet to voice its position towards ‘Shah Deniz’ concerning projects.

According to SOCAR’s President, Rovnag Abdullaev, the Azerbaijani government is currently considering the possibility of SOCAR’s participation in the Nabucco project. The final decision is to be made by the end of the year. Officially, Europe has no preferences concerning the actual route of Azeri gas delivery, but the forum demonstrated plainly that the EU is strongly interested in Azerbaijani participation in the Nabucco project, as it is the most beneficial from an economic as well as from political point of view. This project
is the only one capable of competing with the Russian ‘South Stream’ – pipeline delivering Russian gas to Europe, and that makes it most preferable to the US as well as the EU.

Azerbaijan, on the other hand, could profit equally from all possible routes of delivery, and its only concern is the transit price established by Turkey. An agreement between Baku and Ankara on the matter is soon to be signed. The project of the agreement stipulates that Azerbaijan will have the opportunity not to sell its gas at the border with Turkey, thus being forced to work with mediators, but actually on the Turkish-EU border.

Elmira Tariverdieva, exclusively to VK