U.S., Washington, Dec.16 / Trend , N.Bogdanova /
The U.S. has to cooperate with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to ensure safe gas supplies for the Nabucco gas pipeline project, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Daniel Hamilton said.
"Another goal is the assistance of Turkey and Azerbaijan in signing relevant contracts on gas transit," Hamilton said at a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the "Lisbon Treaty: Consequences for Future Relations between the EU and the U.S."
According to Hamilton, who is the director at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at American University, there is skepticism today about whether the Nabucco gas pipeline will be built.
"But at the same time we believe that it will be an additional energy corridor for Europe and we stand for it," he told Trend 's staff reporter in Washington.
He added that the U.S. plays a political and regulatory role with governments on the project.
The Nabucco gas pipeline project is worth $7.9 billion. Participants of the project are the Austrian OMV, Hungarian MOL, Bulgarian Bulgargaz, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas and German RWE companies. Each participant has an equal share amounting to 16.67 percent.
The construction of gas pipeline is planned to be launched in 2011, with first supplies beginning in 2014. The maximum capacity of the pipeline will hit 31 billion cubic meters per year.
A. Badalova (Baku) also participated in preparing this article.
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