Make your mind up time for Azerbaijan pipeline

D-day looms as pipeline suitors jostle for Shah Deniz riches

Azerbaijan is set to take a crucial decision in April over which planned pipeline will carry gas from the huge Shah Deniz gasfield to Europe. No-one outside the highest circles knows if the country is leaning towards the heavily EU-backed Nabucco project, or one of two smaller-scale pipelines and the race is too tight to call. Pipelines rarely make the headlines, but this one will be different: at stake is whether the EU can truly diversify its pipeline gas imports away from Russia in the medium term, and whether the bloc's executive body, the European Commission, is capable of successfully pushing through projects deemed strategic to its interests. The choice before Socar, Azerbaijan's nati