When the Shah Deniz Consortium opted for Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) instead of Nabucco, Russia technically won the battle for Europe’s fourth energy corridor. If Turkey, which granted a permit for Russia’s South Stream gas pipeline project, is not able to partake in some of this Russian success, it is because Ankara did not give permission — in an attempt to achieve its own energy ambitions, despite its intractable political and economic ties with Russia.
The fourth energy corridor, known also as the southern energy corridor, aims to bring Caspian gas to Europe via southern routes instead of northern Russian territories. During the project’s battle to become the fourth energy corridor, Turkey’s full commitment to the objective of building the corridor was certain but its preference among competing gas pipeline projects to build the corridor remained unclear.
