Krynica, Poland, 11 September / Trend corr. V.Sharifov/ European and US specialists believe the Georgia-South Ossetia conflict which took place in August seriously affected European Union (EU) countries' energy security.
Chairman of Hungarian Parliament's International Affairs Committee Zholt Nemet said at the 18th economic forum in Poland's Krynica city that the situation in Georgia had half affected the energy security of the Nabucco pipeline, which is intended to export gas to Europe since 2012.
Adrian Kendry, Senior Defence Economist, Defence and Security Economics Directorate, in NATO's Political Affairs and Security Policy Division supported the standpoint.
"As a result of the Georgian crisis, (European) energy security (owing to Nabucco) must be re-analyzed," he said.
Chairman of Romania's European Institute for Risk, Security and Communication Management Liviu Muresan believes "the Nabucco gas pipeline project is the victims of recent events in Georgia".
"The conflict in Georgia shook country's position as a reliable supplier of oil and gas to Europe," he said.
Nemet believes Nabucco is realizable. It will become the first step on the way to 'real diversification' of the European energy market.
According to Nemet, construction of the pipeline requires investments. Therefore, he called on EU countries to cooperate to accumulate funds for implementation of the project.
"Without investments Nabucco may become difficult for implementation. EU countries should give priority to implementation of the project," said Nemet.
Participants of the forum believe Caspian countries and Iraq will be potential suppliers of natural gas to Nabucco.
Nabucco will spring from Turkey. Azerbaijani and Central Asian gas will be pumped to the pipeline via Georgia, which is bordering on Turkey.
Nabucco costing $12.4bln is expected to supply gas from Azerbaijan and Central Asia to EU countries since 2013. OMV ( Austria), MOL ( Hungary), Botas ( Turkey), Bulgargaz ( Bulgaria), Transgaz ( Romania) and RWE ( Germany) are the shareholders of the project, each owing16.67%.
The correspondent can be contacted at [email protected]