Nabucco, TANAP sign cooperation deal

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VIENNA, March 4 (UPI) -- A cooperation deal signed Monday between the Nabucco and Trans-Anatolian Pipeline gives European energy security a boost, an executive said from Vienna.

Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH said it signed a memorandum of understanding with the TANAP project to "cooperate in a manner that will support the development of their respective projects."

Nabucco West and TANAP are two natural gas pipelines included in the so-called Southern Corridor of European transit networks. Europe hails the program as a way to break the Russian grip on the regional energy sector.

Nabucco Managing Director Reinhard Mitschek said coordinating the two projects would help push the Southern Corridor further along the road to implementation.

"This MOU cements the relationship between two integral parts of the southern gas corridor, bringing us one step closer to achieving our joint goal of diversifying Europe's gas supplies," he said in a statement.

TANAP, planned through Turkey, could link to Nabucco West, which would deliver natural gas from Caspian suppliers to a central European natural hub in Austria.

The BP-led consortium managing the Shah Deniz 2 natural gas field offshore Azerbaijan is expected to pick between Nabucco West and the smaller Trans-Adriatic Pipeline by June.