US Vice President Dick Cheney has called for 'additional routes' for Central Asian oil and gas on the first day of his trip to the Southern Caucasus.

Cheney arrived in Azerbaijan on Wednesday and met with local representatives of British Petroleum and US oil company, Chevron, who briefed him on the energy situation in the region following the Russia-Georgia conflict.

"Energy security is essential to us all and the matter is becoming increasingly urgent," Cheney said after talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

"We must work with Azerbaijan and other countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia on additional routes for energy exports," he said.

US interest in Azerbaijan is centered around the Nabucco gas pipeline which is an extension of the current pipeline transporting Caspian Sea gas to Turkey via the Georgian capital Tblisi.

Extending the pipeline to continental Europe would mean easier access to Central Asian gas while bypassing Russia and Iran but the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia has raised questions about the viability of the project.

On August 7, the date of Georgia's assault on the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) began to divert oil from the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline to the Baku-Novorossiisk pipe which runs through Russia.

US energy interests were further cast into doubt on Tuesday as Moscow signed a deal to build a new pipeline to increase gas natural gas exports from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan via Russia.

As part of the deal, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin agreed to pay market-based prices for Uzbek gas, a move that could lock in supplies that might have fed alternative European pipelines.

Cheney will continue his tour on Thursday with visits to Georgia and Ukraine.