* Delays have increased need for quick returns
* European Commission has said both routes could workeventually
By Francesco Guarascio
VIENNA, June 10 (Reuters) - Azerbaijan's energy ministerconfirmed he expects a decision by the end of this month onwhich of two rival pipeline projects will ship Azeri gas toEurope and said the decisive factor will be ensuring quickfinancial returns.
The Shah Deniz consortium, led by BP Plc, Norway'sStatoil, Azeri firm SOCAR, and France's Total, is aiming to choose between the Nabucco West and theTrans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) projects, which offer differentroutes to EU gas markets. The consortium is developing the gas.
Energy Minister Natik Aliyev said delays in developing gasfrom Azerbaijan's giant Caspian field had increased the need forswift returns.
"In the short term, they (the consortium) have to get areturn on their investment as quickly as possible," he toldjournalists on Monday on the sidelines of a conference inVienna.
Aliyev declined to say which pipeline would be chosen butsaid the best project for the short term was not necessarily thesame as the best in the long run.
"In the short term some projects may be very attractive, butin the longer term, taking into consideration growing markets,maybe other routes will be more attractive," he said.
Sources have said there might be a way for the Shah Denizconsortium to announce a decision this month that keeps aliveboth projects, so a second pipeline could remain in play forwhen more gas becomes available.
The European Commission, the EU executive, is eager todiversify sources of natural gas and reduce reliance on Russia,which supplies roughly a quarter of the European Union's gas.
The EC was long considered to favour Nabucco, which wasoriginally intended to ship gas all the way from Azerbaijan toAustria.
That proposal has been downsized to the more affordableNabucco West, led by Austria's OMV, which iscontending with TAP, whose shareholders are led by Swiss AXPO and Statoil.
Since Nabucco was shortened to Nabucco West, which like TAPwould connect with a separate link across Turkey, the EuropeanCommission has said it favours neither project and eventuallyboth could be built, even though there is only enough gas forone of the two for now.
Russia's response to the contest to diversify EU gassuppliers has been to plan a massive new pipeline named SouthStream to ship more Russian gas.
Some have argued that would be a blow to Nabucco West giventhat the proposed routes would overlap
Aliyev said South Stream was no problem for him and had themerit of diversifying routes by avoiding gas transit stateUkraine. Ukraine's pricing spats with Russia have led in thepast to disruption of supplies to the European Union.
BP (BP.)