Azerbaijan may turn to a liquefied natural gas project if proposed rates via the planned Nabucco pipeline and competing links to Europe are too expensive, ANS television reported.
“If the tariffs are too high, we can choose AGRI,” Rovnaq Abdullayev, president of the State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan, said in comments broadcast on the privately owned channel late yesterday. He was referring to the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania project to ship Azeri gas as LNG to world markets.
Azerbaijan wants to ensure low transportation rates for gas from its offshore Shah Deniz field, which is operated by BP Plc, as pipeline projects vie for supplies. The projects include the OMV AG-led Nabucco link, Statoil ASA, EGL and E.ON AG’s Trans Adriatic Pipeline and the Interconnector Italy-Turkey-Greece led by Edison SpA, Depa SA and Boru Hatlari Ile Petrol Tasima AS, or Botas. Russia’s OAO Gazprom has also said it is willing to buy all of Azeribaijan’s gas.
Source: Bloomberg
