Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 16 / Trend E.Tariverdiyeva /
Europe and Caspian littoral countries are approaching a key milestone for various energy infrastructure projects within the Southern Corridor initiative, not least the Nabucco pipeline, European Energy Agency member and expert of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Neil Melvin said.
The Nabucco project worth 7.9 billion euros will deliver Azerbaijani and Central Asian gas to the EU by 2015. Its maximum capacity will be 31 billion cubic meters per year. Nabucco shareholders are the Austrian OMV, Hungarian MOL, Bulgarian Bulgargaz, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas and German RWE with 16.7 percent each.
Azerbaijan, Iraq and Turkmenistan are considered as the main gas suppliers for the project. The pipeline's construction is expected to begin in 2012.
Melvin said the Trans Caspian pipeline is a fundamental part of the projects on gas pipelines from the Caspian region.
An international conference on environmental aspects of laying pipelines across the Caspian Sea is scheduled to take place in late February.
He said discussing environmental issues, that are part of the debates, are of involved parties' interest. Any huge project must meet the highest international environmental standards.
"However, this does not mean that the evaluation of environmental aspects of the pipeline will impede the project," Melvin said.
Melvin said the Nord stream project of Gazprom in the Baltic Sea has also faced challenges, including unexplored bombs from two world wars, pollution on the sea bed - including chemical weapons from world war one, and delicate ecosystems.
"But, Nord Stream has gone ahead successfully with care about routes and sensitivity in construction. The same could be achieved in the Caspian Sea," he said.
Nord Stream is a natural gas pipeline running from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea. The agreement on the project was signed in early September 2005. Nord Stream with length of 1,200 km will run from Vyborg (Leningrad region) to Greifswald (Germany). This is expected to be one of the longest subsea gas pipelines.