Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 1 / Trend D. Khatinoglu /
Today, Europe is seriously looking for alternative energy resources to eliminate economic monopoly of Russia. The energy resources of the Caspian countries, particularly Azerbaijan, are of great importance for the EU, Mehrdad Emadi, EU economic adviser, told Trend.
He said that the gas pipeline project Nabucco, envisaging gas supplies from the Caspian region to the EU, is a vivid example of a high potential of broad relations and bilateral cooperation.
Emadi thinks that Europe pays great attention to the Nabucco project. The sanctions, imposed against Iran and the problem of transporting Turkmen gas through the Caspian Sea hamper to fill the pipeline with gas. However, transporting of Azerbaijani gas to Europe is the real variant and the EU attaches great importance to it, he said.
The president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso paid an official visit to Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan in mid-January. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Barroso signed a joint declaration on "Southern Gas Corridor" in Baku.
The Southern Corridor, designed to diversify gas deliveries to Europe, includes the Nabucco gas pipeline, Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), White Stream, and ITGI (Italy-Turkey-Greece Interconnector). The idea of combining several pipeline projects, such as the merger of gas pipelines Nabucco and ITGI, has been raised for several times.
Nabucco is worth 7.9 billion euro, with its construction scheduled to start in 2012 and the first supplies to be commissioned in 2015. The project's participants include the Austrian OMV, Hungarian MOL, Bulgarian Bulgargaz, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas and German RWE, each having an equal 16.67 percent share. The pipeline's maximum capacity will hit 31 billion cubic meters per year.