Azernews.Az

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said finding sources of supplies remain a challenge for the Nabucco pipeline project that seeks to deliver gas from the Caspian and Central Asia regions to EU countries.
"There are three components of the Nabucco project – suppliers, transit states and consumer nations. The project, which has six partners, currently lacks a solid framework on the supply issue," Erdogan told a news conference in Italy.
The 3,300-kilometer Nabucco pipeline, which will run from eastern Turkey to the Austrian capital Vienna, is expected to come online in 2014. Azerbaijan is among the key suppliers for Nabucco which, when fully operational, will carry 30 billion cubic meters of gas annually.
"Though only 15bn cubic meters are required at the initial stage, supplying this volume is still under a question mark," said Erdogan.
"Turkey is not a supplier. The European Union is seeking to transport gas via Nabucco from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan during this stage. However, there are problems with the transit of Turkmen gas through Iran and the Caspian basin as well. On the other hand, the EU does not approve of transporting gas through Russian territory."
The Turkish prime minister noted that work is underway to extend the existing Turkey-Greece gas line to Italy and Albania.
Erdogan said, further, that Nabucco is not an alternative to the Russian-backed South Stream pipeline, and these two projects compliment one another. Neither project will fully meet Europe’s needs for gas, he said.
"For this reason Turkey will continue playing the role of a transit state in these projects," Erdogan added.*