EU and US back Caspian call

Europe and the US are renewing efforts to loosen Russia’s stranglehold over Caspian oil and gas exports, in spite of lingering fears about the security of pipelines in the region in the wake of the war in Georgia.

A declaration signed by the European Commission, the US and 15 countries at an energy summit in Baku, the Azerbaijan capital, on Friday, called for deeper co-operation in Caspian oil and gas transport projects to improve international energy security.
“We consider it is important to continue policies aimed at diversifying oil and gas supply routes from the Caspian basin to European and world markets,” the declaration said. It emphasised the importance of the stalled Nabucco pipeline to bring central Asian and Azerbaijani gas to Europe and of a pipeline linking Turkey, Greece and Italy with the Caspian.

Pipelines and railways carrying Caspian oil and gas across the Caucasus to the west were halted briefly during the war between Russia and Georgia last August, exposing the vulnerability of energy infrastructure in the region.

Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian president, warned that Russia’s goal was to establish control over Caspian energy infrastructure and resources. But Samuel Bodman, the US energy secretary, said the war in Georgia had “shown the importance of energy resources diversification.”

Financial Times