"According to the Turkish Energy Minister, Taner Yildiz, there are plans to 'merge' the Nabucco pipeline to the Turkish-Azerbaijan Trans-Anatolian pipeline (TANAP). According to these plans, TANAP will deliver gas from Azerbaijan to Western Turkey, and Nabucco from Bulgaria to Central Europe," Die Presse reports.
"According to Yildiz, for Nabucco this decision would be advantageous, because the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) has agreed to supply gas through the" TANAP," the publication says. However, SOCAR intends to publish a decision on who will supply gas from the large field "Shah Deniz" to Europe as soon as next year, the newspaper continues. "This addition is crucial for all the planned pipeline projects in the region," the article says. "If Azerbaijan does not confirm its plans, the Nabucco consortium might collapse."
At the same time the EU demands a free tender for using a large part of Nabucco's capacity, while Turkey and Azerbaijan do not want to obey this rule. "Cooperation between Nabucco and TANAP would solve this problem," - the publication says.
