EU: Nabucco Looks To Middle East For Gas

Worried about its dependency on Russian natural gas, EU officials have met in Brussels with energy officials from Turkey and six Mideast countries in an effort to fill Nabucco, a planned gas pipeline running from Turkey to Austria and beyond.

The European Union’s external relations commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said the bloc is now “looking south” after the May 5 meeting.
“Too many people still think we only look north and east when we think of our energy security,” she said.

So far, the EU has Azerbaijan as a potential supplier for Nabucco, although Baku’s export capacity remains unclear.

Turkmenistan last month promised 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) a year, but there are, as yet, no means of getting the gas to Nabucco. The most likely option is a pipeline across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, but the plans for such a project have not even reached the drawing board.

On May 5, Iraq reconfirmed an earlier pledge of 5 bcm to the EU a year. Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria — which make up the Arab Gas Pipeline consortium — said they would provide another 2 bcm. It has yet to be decided whether the Iraqi deliveries would join the Arab Gas Pipeline via Syria or whether a new pipeline will be built connecting Iraq directly with Turkey. Officials said the Arab Gas Pipeline will be online by early 2010, whereas it will take two to three years for the Iraqi gas to reach Europe.

Radio Free Europe