The Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline operated by BP is expected to be linked with Italy by the end of the year.

Both pipelines are within the firing distance of Karabakh, and Azerbaijan has said its air defenses shot down Armenian missiles targeting them – a claim Yerevan has denied.

A disruption in energy exports would deal a heavy blow to Azerbaijan's economy, which has suffered from falling oil prices.

"The pipelines are laid two meters underground, so there is protection there from material damage," analyst Swapnil Babele of Rystad Energy, an independent energy research and business intelligence company.

Babele added that if Armenian troops capture territory that pipelines cross through, this would represent "a potential threat to oil and gas exports in the region."

Any disruption would also have an impact on Turkey, which is linked to Azerbaijan by energy delivery and transit contracts.

The decades-long Karabakh conflict has been the major obstacle for the economic integration of the 3 South Caucasus countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.

It is also likely to have scared away foreign investors and negatively affect "both countries' credit...and investment ratings," said US-based professor and economist Gubad Ibadoghlu.

He added that efforts by Armenia and Azerbaijan to maintain competitive armies weighs heavily on their budgets.

The region's poorest country, Armenia, is also sidelined from all the major energy and transit projects in the Caucasus region, noted Azerbaijani economist and opposition leader Natig Jafarli.

"The military expenditure of the two countries could be devoted to the social protection of the population and to the development of the economy," he said.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Source -Rappler.com