Azerbaijan inaugurates European gas pipeline

Azerbaijan inaugurated today a pipeline that will eventually create the first direct route to transport gas from one of the world's largest fields to Europe bypassing Russia.

"With this project we are creating a new energy map of Europe," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in a nationally televised ceremony where he turned on the taps at Sangachal Terminal, located some 55 kilometres (35 miles) southwest of the capital Baku.

The Southern Gas Project aims to transport gas 3,500 kilometres from the Caspian Sea to Europe just as the West is looking to reduce its reliance on Russian energy.

The USD 40-billion (35-billion-euro) project consists of three linked pipelines that will bring gas from the vast Azerbaijani Shah Deniz 2 field across Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy.

By 2020, the Southern Gas Corridor is expected to bring around 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe a year. Another 6 billion cubic metres of gas will go to Turkey.

The South Caucasus Pipeline from Azerbaijan will transport gas to Turkey, where it will feed into Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline, or TANAP.

From Turkey, the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline will take the gas on to Italy.

The total investment in Shah Deniz 2 and pipeline infrastructure is more than $40 billion.

Aliyev praised support from the United States, Britain and the European Union and noted "strong regional cooperation between Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia" in building the pipeline.

"This project takes into account the interests of everyone -- suppliers of gas, transit countries and consumers," Aliyev said.

"If it were not for the balance of interests then the project would not exist," he said at the ceremony attended by Western dignitaries.

But many activists have slammed the project, saying Western governments have turned a blind eye to rights violations in Azerbaijan and charging that it would serve to enrich Aliyev's family.

Last month Aliyev, 56, secured a fourth consecutive presidential term, in elections that international observers said were marred by "serious irregularities" and lack of competition.

He came to power after the death of his father Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB officer and communist-era leader who had ruled Azerbaijan with an iron fist.

Supporters have praised the Aliyevs for turning a republic once thought of as an ex-Soviet backwater into a flourishing energy supplier to Europe.

But critics say they have crushed the opposition and used their power to fund a lavish lifestyle for the president and his family.