INTERVIEW: EU looks to Azerbaijan for gas - by any route

By Marion Trimborn Feb 10, 2012, 12:43 GMT

Brussels - Afflicted by an unusually cold spell, and with diplomatic tensions in its neighbourhood adding pressure on energy supplies, the European Commission is backing future gas deliveries from Azerbaijan, irrespective of the pipeline used, Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told dpa in an interview conducted in Brussels this week.

'The important thing is for the door to be pushed open,' the German politician said, noting that for the first time the former Soviet republic was pumping gas to Europe.

The commissioner believes that European Union sanctions on Iranian oil, due to take effect in the middle of the year, 'will certainly mean a rise in prices of some kind,' particularly in southern Europe, where Italy, Greece and Spain are dependent on Iranian oil.

However, Oettinger strongly believes that the problem can de dealt with in terms of logistics.

Meanwhile, the European Union's executive is pushing for the bloc to become less dependent on gas from Russia, currently its main supplier.

'We want to get Russian gas from the Russians, and the gas from other countries directly from them,' Oettinger said.

The recent cold weather across Europe has meant that Russia has been able to deliver less gas than normal to EU countries. But Oettinger does not expect the kind of conditions that occurred when a 'gas war' erupted in 2009 between Russia and Ukraine, causing supply bottlenecks in pipelines crossing Ukraine.

'The main thing is that there is goodwill on the part of all those involved,' he said.

Oettinger noted that new pipelines were needed to pump gas from the Caspian Sea, but would not be drawn on which of the competing routes would be successful.

'Whichever project is decided on is not for the European legislators to decide, but for the market players. We are not running a planned economy.'

A consortium comprising several multinational companies with stakes in the gas reserves around the Caspian Sea had to decide, Oettinger said, predicting the decision would be taken within the next six months.

Several projects are competing to supply gas from the region to Western Europe. The best known is Nabucco, which enjoys EU support, and which is designed to pump natural gas around Russian from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan right across Turkey and through Bulgaria to Austria.

The cost of the pipeline is reported to have almost doubled to 15 billion euros (20 billion dollars), and negotiations with the countries of the Caucasus are proving difficult, as there are problems filling the pipeline with the planned 31 billion cubic metres of gas per year.

Nabucco could possibly build a smaller project, with the aim of extending it later.

'A smaller pipeline is fine as far as we are concerned, as long as it can be extended, so that we can also get gas from Turkmenistan,' Oettinger said, adding that this could be done simply by increasing the pressure.

The commissioner is certain that a southern gas pipeline is essential for the EU market, pointing to planned onward pipelines like the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline from Greece across the Adriatic to Italy and the Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline.

'But it is just as important to build a line along the Danube, whether it is called Nabucco or not,' Oettinger said. 'At the end of the day, both are sensible and necessary.'

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