The Southern Corridor: Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan’s Gas Legacy, Summer 2012

Wednesday, September 5, 2012 | Download PDF in English

A decade or so ago, the questions of how to get the bulk of Azerbaijan’s oil and gas to Western markets led to historic decisions to build both the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum (BTE) export pipelines. The need for a dedicated line to carry Azerbaijani gas across Turkey to Southern and Central European markets has been consistently underlined by SOCAR and European counterparts alike. Now the partners developing Azerbaijan’s giant Shah Deniz gasfield are moving inexorably towards implementation of a massive production project, TANAP. There are still unsettled issues, however, such as which pipeline will carry the gas from Turkey onwards to Europe, and how the BTE segment will be upgraded.

CONTRIBUTOR

John M. Roberts

John M. Roberts is a UK-based Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center and Global Energy Center. He is also a Senior Partner with Methinks Ltd, a consultancy specializing in the interrelationship between energy, economic development, and politics, and a member of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Group of Experts on Gas.

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