Uncertainty over Europe's pipeline options

MOSCOW, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- There are many unknowns regarding what will happen with natural gas from Azerbaijan as European pipeline contenders await a decision from Baku, an analyst said.

Planners of the Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy, Trans Adriatic Pipeline and Nabucco submitted their plans to Azerbaijan in October. They want to secure supplies from the offshore Shah Deniz-2 natural gas field.

Pavel Sorokin, an energy analyst a Alfa Bank in Moscow, told online news agency New Europe it's hard to predict Baku's next move because there aren't enough resources available there to fill any of those pipelines.

"It's definitely hard to judge at this point what will actually be the final set up in terms of gas delivery from Azerbaijan," he said.

TAP spokeswoman Lisa Givert told the news magazine that her pipeline was in line to receive gas by the end of 2017. There were questions, added Sorokin, about where Nabucco, the most ambitious of the three projects, would get all of its natural gas.

Christian Dolezal, a spokesman for the Nabucco consortium, told United Press International in response to e-mailed questions that he wasn't putting all of his eggs in one basket.

"The negotiations are ongoing. In fact Nabucco is based on a multi-sourcing concept," he said. "The two feeder lines (for Nabucco) will be able to transport gas from the Caspian region and Iraq."