Azerbaijan and Turkey plan to complete delayed talks on the proposed Trans-Anatolia pipeline that will carry Azeri natural gas across Turkey to Europe by the end of the month.

“We aim to complete talks this month and sign the inter- governmental agreement by June 30,” Elshad Nasirov, vice president of State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan, known as SOCAR, said today in an interview in the capital of Baku. The deal was held up issues over tax and the investment regime, according to Nasirov.

The Shah Deniz group will choose between Nabucco West, a revised version of the EU-backed project, and BP’s South East Europe Pipeline option, or SEEP, “no later than June 30,” he said.

The winner of the Central European route will then compete with the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, or TAP, that’s being developed by EGL AG, Statoil ASA (STL) and EON Ruhrgas AG. The Shah Deniz partners will make a final decision by mid-2013, he said.

Tanap will initially be able to carry 16 billion cubic meters of gas a year, with capacity rising to more than 30 billion cubic meters as and when additional sources are found, Nasirov said.