By Alberto Sisto
ROME, July 1 (Reuters) - The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP)was chosen to carry Azeri gas from the Shah Deniz gas fieldbecause it beat its rival Nabucco West on seven out of eightevaluation criteria, a junior minister at Italy's Industryministry told Reuters.
"It was not for higher prices in Italy and Greece," ClaudioDe Vincenti said on Monday.
On Friday the consortium developing Azerbaijan's Shah Denizgas field said it had chosen TAP rather than Nabucco West.
The TAP pipeline will collect Azeri gas in Turkey and carryit across Greece and Albania before reaching southern Italy.
The head of Austria's OMV, part of the rivalNabucco project, said last week the TAP project had been chosenbecause of higher gas prices in Italy and Greece.
De Vincenti also said the government continued to supportthe South Stream gas pipeline project led by Italian major Eni and Russia's Gazprom.
Asked if Eni was dragging its feet on the project DeVincenti said "no, I do not have this impression".
The junior minister also said the GALSI pipeline projectthat will carry Algerian gas into Italy through Sardinia wasimportant for the country.
He said GALSI had put back the date for a final investmentdecision to the first few months of 2014.
Some observers have expressed skepticism about the viabilityof a series of large gas infrastructure projects being developedbecause of an overcapacity of natural gas on markets. (Writing by Stephen Jewkes; editing by Francesca Landini)
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