Azerbaijan ready for Nabucco transit, Aliyev says
President Ilham Aliyev has said Azerbaijan is ready
to act as a transit state for exports through the Nabucco pipeline
that aims to take Caspian and Central Asian gas to Europe.
"Azerbaijan is neither an initiator nor a participant in the Nabucco project. But, if we receive an appeal to ensure transit, certainly, we will gladly do that," Aliyev said in an interview with the Russian RTR TV channel`s Vesti (News) program and Russia`s state news agency ITAR-TASS.
He emphasized that, as all other countries, the resource-rich South Caucasus republic is interested in transporting any cargo, including hydrocarbons, through its territory.
The president did not rule out that Azerbaijan could transport part of its gas via Nabucco.
"If the Nabucco pipeline is built, naturally, we could transport a part of our gas in that direction under good conditions. But, at this point, such a situation has emerged that it is difficult to say when and who will move this project from the point of stalemate," the Azerbaijani leader said.
The European Union-backed project, worth 8 billion euros, seeks to deliver about 30 billion cubic meters of gas a year to energy-thirsty European markets through a 3,300-kilometer pipeline traveling via the territories of Azerbaijan and Turkey to Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria, while by-passing Russia.
"Azerbaijan is neither an initiator nor a participant in the Nabucco project. But, if we receive an appeal to ensure transit, certainly, we will gladly do that," Aliyev said in an interview with the Russian RTR TV channel`s Vesti (News) program and Russia`s state news agency ITAR-TASS.
He emphasized that, as all other countries, the resource-rich South Caucasus republic is interested in transporting any cargo, including hydrocarbons, through its territory.
The president did not rule out that Azerbaijan could transport part of its gas via Nabucco.
"If the Nabucco pipeline is built, naturally, we could transport a part of our gas in that direction under good conditions. But, at this point, such a situation has emerged that it is difficult to say when and who will move this project from the point of stalemate," the Azerbaijani leader said.
The European Union-backed project, worth 8 billion euros, seeks to deliver about 30 billion cubic meters of gas a year to energy-thirsty European markets through a 3,300-kilometer pipeline traveling via the territories of Azerbaijan and Turkey to Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria, while by-passing Russia.
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