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The Wall Street Journal: Nabucco Pipeline’s Fate Hinges on Azerbaijan

01 August 2011 09:09 (UTC +04:00)

The author of the article Alessandro Torello writes that two decades after Azerbaijan emerged from the Soviet Union and began striking oil deals with Western companies, it faces vital decisions on its plans to exploit another energy resource: natural gas. The fate of the giant Nabucco gas pipelineâ€”a central plank of the European Union strategy to loosen Russia’s grip on Europe’s natural-gas marketâ€”hangs on those decisions.

â€œBy year-end, Azerbaijan is expected to choose long-term buyers for the gas from its massive Shah Deniz II field, which lies deep under the Caspian with reserves of more than one trillion cubic meters,â€ the author writes.

The Wall Street Journal writes that at a conference in Baku in June, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev reaffirmed that natural gas from his country would go to Europe. He didn’t say how.

The journal writes quoting Elshad Nassirov, vice president of the State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan that SOCAR would prefer a smaller pipeline that could be expanded later to meet additional capacity. â€œSocar wants to sell the gas in as many European countries as possible, and get the best price.â€

According to the Wall Street Journal Turkmenistan is another state of the region rich in natural gas. Yet many experts are skeptical that Turkmenistan’s gas will become available soon for export to the Westâ€”in part because of opposition by Russia and Iran. Therefore, according to the journal, Nabucco Pipeline’s fate hinges on Azerbaijan.