Azeri gas rivalry intensifies as projects submit their proposals

Rival European pipeline groups launched a final charm offensive on Azerbaijan to win the rights to export its gas, a day ahead of a deadline that may reshape future gas flows to Europe, Reuters reports.

Three consortiums - Nabucco, Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy (ITGI) and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) - are vying to build the infrastructure to carry gas from the second phase of Azerbaijan's major Shah Deniz gas field to Europe.

Azerbaijan is expected to decide which project to prioritise before the end of 2011, while the deadline for consortiums to submit their technical and commercial proposals was set for October 1.

Shah Deniz, being developed by BP , Statoil and Azeri SOCAR, is estimated to contain 1.2 trillion cubic metres of gas, which European companies hope can supply them for decades and reduce their dependence on Russian gas.

Days before the deadline, BP said it was mulling over a fourth option - a pipeline from Turkey to the Romanian-Hungarian border - potentially forcing them to adjust projects and take more steps to persuade their Azerbaijani and Shah Deniz partners to choose their route over the others.

On Friday, the EU-backed Nabucco consortium said Germany's Bayerngas intended to join the group as a seventh member, boosting the project's competitiveness.

Nabucco, which is backed by OMV, Germany's RWE , Hungary's MOL , Turkey's Botas, BEH of Bulgaria and Romania's Transgaz , aims to transport up to 31 billion cubic metres (bcm) a year by 2017.