TBILISI, Georgia, March 29 (UPI) -- Partners working in the Shah Deniz natural gas field in Azerbaijan could make a decision on the short list for gas transit options by June, a BP official said.
Neil Dunn, manager of Georgia operations for BP, told a meeting in Tbilisi that the consortium managing Shah Deniz 2 is considering a short list for gas transit systems for Europe, including the scaled-down Nabucco West.
"By the end of June, there will be a single option for delivery to Italy and a single option for delivery to (Central) Europe," he was quoted by the Platts news service as saying.
A final export route to Italy has been identified as the Trans-Adriatic pipeline. BP is said to be considering either a blend of interconnectors or the construction of a dedicated pipeline.
A smaller version of the planned 2,400-mile Nabucco pipeline, dubbed Nabucco West, would travel from the Turkish border to Austria, about half of what's expected for the entire project.
Europe is searching for pipeline options to break Russia's grip on the regional energy sector. Around 80 percent of Russian gas bound for Europe is sent through the gas transit system in Ukraine.
A final decision on export pipelines won't be made until 2013, however.
