OREANDA-NEWS. On February 25 SOCAR president Rovnag Abdullayev received the delegation led by Steven Mann, coordinator of the U.S. Department of State for Eurasian Energy Diplomacy. After warm greetings, R. Abdullayev expressed his happiness to meet S. Mann in his new position. In his turn, S. Mann stated that he was fortunate to return to Azerbaijan as a coordinator of the US Department of State for Eurasian Energy Diplomacy. He added: “It is very pleasant to work again with old friends”. He expressed the intention to visit Turkey and Turkmenistan within the framework of his visit to the region and then return to Baku for holding discussions. He noted that the U.S. will continue supporting energy projects implemented by Azerbaijan.

Mann stated that oil and gas export of Azerbaijan draws great interest. Abdullayev mentioned that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline was also constructed with the US support, and in the aftermath of its operation, Azerbaijan has no problem left with oil transportation. He also noted that repair of Baku-Supsa pipeline would be completed soon which would contribute to the diversification of energy transit routes. Being an exporter of oil and oil products, Azerbaijan had already started gas export as well. Abdullayev informed the guest about the ongoing preparation to the second phase of Shahdaniz project. He mentioned that Azerbaijan is thoroughly considering existing gas pipelines leading to Europe, as well as NABUCCO, Turkey-Greece-Italy, and other alternatives. NABUCCO pipeline was called as a part of the U.S. energy policy. The issues around the transit countries and the aspects of gas delivery to the Europe were discussed in depth during the meeting. Ms. Ann Derse, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the U.S. to Azerbaijan also attended the meeting.