Azerbaijan vetting gas pipeline drafts

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BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- A decision on including members of the Shah Deniz gas consortium in Azerbaijan in a version of the Nabucco pipeline is expected mid-December, an executive said.

Rovnag Abdullayev, the president of the State Oil Co. of the Azerbaijan Republic, said members of the Nabucco West gas pipeline consortium are drafting final proposals regarding Azeri gas.

"In the middle of December, the process of taking a decision on including the Shah Deniz consortium in the Nabucco West project will proceed," he was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

In October, Christian Dolezal, spokesman for Nabucco Gas Pipeline International, said talks between the pipeline group and those in the BP-led consortium working on the Shah Deniz II gas field offshore Azerbaijan were "progressing well."

The Shah Deniz II consortium is expected by next year to make a final decision between the Nabucco West pipeline and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline as the conduit for Azeri natural gas.

Europe is eager to secure natural gas reserves from Caspian suppliers to break the Russian grip on the regional energy sector. Nabucco West is part of a series of transit networks outlined in the Southern Corridor package of gas pipelines for Europe.