Azernews.Az

BAKU – Gas supply routes for the Nabucco pipeline to pump Caspian and Central Asian gas to European markets will be determined by the end of the year, Turkey’s energy minister said on Wednesday after meeting with the Syrian ambassador in Istanbul, Anadolu news agency reported.

Taner Yildiz told Ambassador Nydal Kabalan that Turkey considers Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iraq and Iran as the key gas suppliers for the Nabucco project.

"There are three possible supply routes for the Nabucco pipeline in Turkey: across the Georgian border, from northern Iraq and across the Iranian border. We have preliminary agreements on the first two options.

"Through the Georgian border will go Azeri gas. This option we once again discussed last week in Baku," the Turkish minister said.

Yildiz said that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced in July 2009 about his country’s joining the Nabucco project, pledging to bring the volume of gas deliveries to 15bn cubic meters.

"By the end of the year the gas supply routes for the Nabucco project will be identified", Yildiz said.

According to him, the UN Security Council sanctions against Iran do not relate to the purchase by Turkey of Iranian oil and gas to meet its domestic needs.

"Turkey conducts trade in line with international law. Petroleum product sales refer only to the private sector", said Yildiz.

Some analysts say Nabucco cannot fill total capacity without supplies from Iran, which has the world's second-biggest reserves, but Nabucco says sources from Turkmenistan, Iraq and Azerbaijan are plentiful. It has yet to sign a binding supply agreement.

Nabucco has said it will not rule out any source for the future.

The Nabucco pipeline project aims to decrease the European Union’s dependence on Russian imports by bringing Caspian gas to a hub in Austria via the Balkans. The gas would be shipped to Europe via Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. Construction of Nabucco will begin in 2011, as the recent gas crisis between Russia and Ukraine has convinced decision-makers of the need to speed up the project.

The project, worth 7.9 billion euros, is managed by the Vienna-based Nabucco Gas Pipeline International. Partners in the consortium with equal stakes of 16.67% are Austrian OMV, Hungarian MOL, Bulgarian Bulgargaz, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas and German RWE.