The USA will support Central Asia and the Caspian region in finding
access to markets for economic growth and prosperity, the US special
representative for energy issues of Eurasia, Richard Morningstar, told
Congress, Trend reports.
The USA supports the Southern Gas Corridor for Caspian gas transport
to Europe, which will reduce dependence on Russian supplies.
Morningstar said that sanctions may be brought against Azerbaijan's
Shah-Deniz, since 10% of the shares of the project belong to Iran.
Resources might not reach Europe and go to Russia, China or Iran
instead.
Gas from Shah-Deniz is considered the main source for projects of the
Southern Corridor, such as Nabucco, TAP and ITGI (Turkey-Greece-Italy
pipeline).
Shah-Deniz has 1.2 trillions of gas reserves. The maximum extraction
rate is 9 billion cubic meters of gas and 50,000 barrels of gas
condensate annually at the first stage of development. The second
stage will have figures increased to 24 billion cubic meters annually.
