Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 5 / Trend , A.Badalova/
Turkey was in favor of Qatar's participation in the Nabucco pipeline project, Zawya reported with the reference to Murat Yalcintas, the chairman of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce.
He said one of the areas where cooperation between the two countries can acquire a concrete form, can become the Nabucco Project.
"The participation of Qatar in this project as a supplier of gas will unite countries in a joint platform," Yalcintas said at the exhibition of the Turkish products in Doha.
Turkey is one of the six participants of the Nabucco gas pipeline project, designed to transport natural gas from the Caspian region and the Middle East to the EU. Construction of the pipeline is expected to begin in 2011 and the first supplies - in 2014. Its maximum capacity will be 31 billion cubic meters per year.
The main gas suppliers at the first stage of the project are considered Azerbaijan and Iraq, who will transport up to eight billion cubic meters. Next to the project, it is planned to connect the Turkmen gas.
Qatar has the third largest gas reserves in the world, and is also a major exporter of liquefied natural gas. According to BP, the proven gas reserves in the country amounted to 25.46 trillion cubic meters, accounting for 13.8 percent of world reserves, as for early 2009. In 2008, gas production in Qatar, according to BP, amounted to 76.6 billion cubic meters, which is 20.9 percent higher than the volume in 2007.
By 2012, Qatar is going to expand an export capacity to 220 billion cubic meters of gas.
The Qatari gas can be connected to the Nabucco through a gas pipeline between Qatar and Turkey, whose construction is now under discussion between the two countries. The Energy Ministries of the two countries have agreed to establish a working group that will develop and implement gas projects. The new gas pipeline between Qatar and Turkey will also pass through the territory of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria.
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