Turkey willing to compromise on Nabucco gas pipeline

Jul 12, 2009, 12:00 GMT

   Istanbul - Turkey on Sunday has expressed a willingness to compromise in a row over delivery of natural gas in the Nabucco pipeline, a day before an accord for the multi-billion-euro European Union project is due to be signed in Ankara.

Turkish media quoted Energy Minister Taner Yildiz as saying that Turkey will no longer insist upon receiving 15 per cent of the gas transferred through the pipeline.

Turkey assumes it will receive annual income of up to 450 million euros (627 million dollars) by virtue of letting the pipeline cross its territory.

   The EU intends to use the pipeline to reduce its dependency on Russian gas.

   The countries involved in the Nabucco pipeline - Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey - are due to sign an agreement in Ankara on Monday.

   As of 2013, the Nabucco pipeline is to transport gas from Central Asia along the so-called Southern Corridor via Turkey to Austria.

   The EU is funding the 8-billion project with grants and loans. Brussels' main problem is who will ultimately pump the estimated 31 billion cubic metres of gas annually along the 3,300-kilometre pipeline.

Gas-rich Turkmenistan has indicated an interest in the Nabucco gas pipeline. Geologists had determined that the Central Asian country has enough natural gas to become involved in the supply of gas to Europe, Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov told Parliament, according to a report by the RIA Novosti news agency on Saturday.

   The unprecedented gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine that put gas supplies to Europe in jeopardy earlier this year, gave impetus to the Nabucco project.