[European Energy Security and Azerbaijan's Role]

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would take this opportunity to thank my research supervisor, family and friends for their support and guidance without which this research would not have been possible.

DECLARATION

I [type yAzerbaijan full first names and surname here], declare that the contents of this dissertation/thesis represent my own unaided work, and that the dissertation/thesis has not previously been submitted for academic examination towards any qualification. Furthermore, it represents my own opinions and not necessarily those of the University.

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ABSTRACT

In this paper I will try to reveal the significance of new actors from the Caspian region in diversifying the gas supply of the Europe. This region is rich of recAzerbaijanses and the amount of reserves is enough to influence of the European energy market. If to take the consideration the countries such Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan the alternative energy submitted by these countries could be like a tool for the European countries in further negotiations with Russia. Actually the only Azerbaijan transport the small quantity of gas through the pipeline Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum (BTE) it is also called South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) natural gas pipeline between Azerbaijan and Turkey and then to Greece, via pipeline interconnection between two countries. The plan to extend the SCP is a task of nowadays so the project called Nabucco. The Nabucco pipeline (also referred as Turkey-Austria gas pipeline) is a proposed natural gas pipeline from Erzurum in Turkey to Baumgarten and in March in Austria. Therefore in a case of realization of this project the natural gas from the Shah Deniz Azerbaijan will be transferred to the heart of the Europe. But the Nabucco needs additional suppliers because Azerbaijan can supply only half of the amount needed for its feasibility.

The intention of European Union countries is a diversification of the origin countries the issue of the security of supply and the depleting of the recAzerbaijanses in Europe. But the large gas fields in Russia are maturing and new investments have to compensate a possible decline in the supply from these fields as well. The large Russian energy company Gazprom is currently trying to invest money to operate new gas fields but at the same time to be the energy hub Russia trying to put input in purchasing the energy recAzerbaijanses from the Caspian region offering the European prices for natural gas to the countries in the region. Future supplies from the Caspian Sea region may be purchased by Russia to fulfill whatever gas demand, rather than being offered on the European market as additional supplies. Any temporary disruption, or a slowly emerging decline in supply from these countries as a consequence of lagging capacity replacements, will jeopardize the EU security of supply. So Russia is trying to tight the income of the energy recAzerbaijanses to Europe on many frontiers.

One of main ideas in writing this paper also was the task to analyze the action taken by Russia in order to jeopardize the energy security in Europe. The paper starts by emphasizing the fundamentally ...