Cheap gas and a «mousetrap»

It is hard to believe that Azerbaijan’s "embrace" will save Europe from gas «dictate policy» of Russia. Konstantin Simonov, Director General of the Fund for National Energy Security Azerbaijan chose the gas pipeline which will deliver gas from Shah-Deniz stage 2 gasfield to Europe. That was the project of Nabucco gas pipeline. Of course, it is good news for the pipe which has already been buried. In fact, everything is not that simple. Usually, Nabucco is perceived as one project. But when it faced serious difficulties, at least three variations of the project appeared on the agenda. Initially, it was the Nabucco project, which later became known as Nabucco XL. The project was launched in Turkmenistan, it was the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline which went through Azerbaijan to Georgia, through Turkey, Bulgaria towards Baumgarten. Then, the Nabucco Classic was launched: it started from Azerbaijan, just from Shah Deniz stage 2 and went also to Baumgarten. However, Nabucco XL remained, at first, Nabucco Classic, and now the project exists only as Nabucco West. In Russian, it was more correct to call it Nabucco Cut as Nabucco West is a pipeline which stretches from Bulgaria, through Romania and Hungary to Austrian Baumgarten. In fact, it is a pipeline from Turkey to Austria. We are aware that BP proposed the project SEEP (South-East European Pipeline), but in general the only difference between Nabucco West and SEEP was that the latter went to Hungary, not Austria. Thus, it is clear that the pipeline from Turkey means nothing as there is no gas in Turkey. It still needs to be somehow transported there. That is why even Europeans mock at Nabucco West. For instance, Italians gave it a very funny name – «Nabuccino», i.e. «little Nabucco». Therefore, today, when we say that Azerbaijan made a choice in favor of Nabucco, we should realize that it chose «little Nabucco». All the same, this project should be completed as it is necessary to deliver gas from Azerbaijan to the Turkish border – and here the leading role will be attached to TANAP (Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline), the shareholders of which would be Azerbaijan and Turkey. That is the trick – today Nabucco means only small piece of the Turkish border.