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Turkey: Gas pipeline deal moves a step closer
Ankara, 3 July (AKI) - A key international agreement to approve Turkey's Nabucco natural gas pipeline is expected to be signed in the country's capital, Ankara, in two weeks, European Union officials said on Friday. The 3,300-kilometre pipeline, designed to relieve European dependence on Russian gas, is expected to bring Caspian and Middle East gas to Europe as early as 2014.
But the project has been delayed due to a lack of supplies and conflict among stakeholders.
A firm transit agreement due to be signed on 13 July could increase competition between Nabucco and a rival Russian pipeline, allowing the EU-backed project to start work on new accords to enable firms to buy up portions of the pipeline's 31 billion cubic metre capacity.
"On July 13, the intergovernmental accord on Nabucco will be signed in Turkey," Romanian economy minister Adriean Videanu told reporters from Azerbaijan where he is on a two-day visit.
The European Union confirmed it had received an invitation to the 13 July signing ceremony.
"I can confirm that the commission has received an invitation to the signing ceremony of the intergovernmental agreement on the Nabucco pipeline in Ankara," a European Commission spokesman told the media.
The signing of the transit agreement was delayed by demands from Turkey, which has few hydrocarbon resources of its own, that it use 15 percent of Nabucco's 31 billion cubic metre capacity for its domestic usage or for export.
Videanu said Turkey's "15 percent issue" was now solved, but gave no details.
The EU executive did not comment on whether the issue had been resolved and the commission spokesman declined to provide details about the agreement, saying only that they would be made public once the agreement between the EU nations involved and Turkey was signed.
The reports came after Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told reporters in Ankara after a recent trip to Russia that the country was technically close to completing negotiations in the Nabucco project.
The gas pipeline project is in direct competition with Russia’s rival South Stream project, developed by Russia’s gas giant Gazprom and Italy’s energy giant Eni, designed to channel Russian gas through Bulgaria to Western Europe under the Black Sea.
The Nabucco pipeline will transport natural gas from Turkey to Austria, via Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary.
It will run from Erzurum in Turkey to Baumgarten an der March, a major natural gas hub in Austria.
The project is backed by several European Union states and the United States.
But the project has been delayed due to a lack of supplies and conflict among stakeholders.
A firm transit agreement due to be signed on 13 July could increase competition between Nabucco and a rival Russian pipeline, allowing the EU-backed project to start work on new accords to enable firms to buy up portions of the pipeline's 31 billion cubic metre capacity.
"On July 13, the intergovernmental accord on Nabucco will be signed in Turkey," Romanian economy minister Adriean Videanu told reporters from Azerbaijan where he is on a two-day visit.
The European Union confirmed it had received an invitation to the 13 July signing ceremony.
"I can confirm that the commission has received an invitation to the signing ceremony of the intergovernmental agreement on the Nabucco pipeline in Ankara," a European Commission spokesman told the media.
The signing of the transit agreement was delayed by demands from Turkey, which has few hydrocarbon resources of its own, that it use 15 percent of Nabucco's 31 billion cubic metre capacity for its domestic usage or for export.
Videanu said Turkey's "15 percent issue" was now solved, but gave no details.
The EU executive did not comment on whether the issue had been resolved and the commission spokesman declined to provide details about the agreement, saying only that they would be made public once the agreement between the EU nations involved and Turkey was signed.
The reports came after Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told reporters in Ankara after a recent trip to Russia that the country was technically close to completing negotiations in the Nabucco project.
The gas pipeline project is in direct competition with Russia’s rival South Stream project, developed by Russia’s gas giant Gazprom and Italy’s energy giant Eni, designed to channel Russian gas through Bulgaria to Western Europe under the Black Sea.
The Nabucco pipeline will transport natural gas from Turkey to Austria, via Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary.
It will run from Erzurum in Turkey to Baumgarten an der March, a major natural gas hub in Austria.
The project is backed by several European Union states and the United States.
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