Industry and Energy

Home page

Industry and Energy

Rolan Kobia: â€œThe Southern Gas Corridor between Azerbaijan and the European Union gets a step closer to realityâ€

17 May 2013 11:38 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Victoria Dementieva – APA-Economics. On 16 May, the European Commission adopted a formal decision granting the exemptions from the EU legislation (the provisions of the 3rd Energy Package on the third party access, tariff regulation and ownership unbundling) for the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline project and for Nabucco West as an extension of the existing exemption (on the third party access and tariff regulation) earlier granted.

According to Ambassador Roland Kobia, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Azerbaijan, these decisions form another milestone in completing the Southern Gas Corridor: “They show the commitment and seriousness of the EU to concretely work with Azerbaijan in realising our common projects of mutual interest. The decisions address the important outstanding regulatory and legislative issues for both TAP and Nabucco West projects. Now, the positions of the two projects have reached a comparable level that will enable Shah Deniz consortium to evaluate both pipelines adequately in view of the upcoming June decision on the European evacuation route for the Shah Deniz II gas”.

Note that Shah Deniz consortium is evaluating the two competing projects – Nabucco West and Trans-Adriatic pipeline for the European leg of the Shah Deniz II evacuation route. The decision is expected by the end of June and the SD II Final Investment Decision - by the end of October 2013, according to the Shah Deniz consortium.