Frederick Starr: Azerbaijan is a key potential supplier for alternative pipeline options

“BTC was the only achievement of US diplomacy in the region after the collapse of USSR”, Frederick Starr, Chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program, said.

According to analyst, the countries of the Caspian region are facing a common set of problems, but opinions about their causes vary from country to country.

“During the last decades of the Soviet regime, Moscow’s influence over the area began to wane, as investment was cut back and new revolutionary forces were emerging south of the Soviet border,” the analyst added.

Mr. Starr believes that new realities in the region are also significantly impacting energy developments and have potential implications for European energy security.

The current trends are not serving the energy security interests or integration purposes for either the region or the West.

“Azerbaijan is a key potential supplier for alternative pipeline options for the so-called Southern Corridor for natural gas, but the lag in finalizing the supply agreement with Turkey is causing delays in the development of the gas fields and their delivery infrastructure. As a result, European dependency on natural gas coming from the Russian pipeline system will only increase,” he added.


/APA/