Azernews.Az

BRUSSELS – Top European Union officials including the head of the bloc's executive are to travel to Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan January 13 to 15 to lobby for natural gas supplies for planned new pipelines to the bloc, it was confirmed Wednesday, DPA reported.

The EU is desperate to diversify its supplies of natural gas to weaken its dependence on Russia. But efforts to create a "Southern energy corridor" across Turkey, and especially a gas pipeline dubbed "Nabucco" to the Caspian, have so far borne little fruit.

"I will be travelling next week together with (Energy) Commissioner (Guenther) Oettinger to Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to push for the Southern Corridor initiative," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said.

Nabucco is the EU's flagship energy project, designed to pipe fuel from the Caspian Sea and northern Iraq all the way to Austria. But the consortium building it has not yet signed gas supply contracts with either Azerbaijan or Turkmenistan, leaving the potential that there might be no fuel for it to carry.

"Certainly, our goal is to have the clear commitments of those countries regarding the Southern Corridor and including, of course, Nabucco," Barroso said. "I am expecting some progress."

The visit comes at a critical time, as Azerbaijan's government is expected to decide within months whom it will award contracts to exploit gas from the huge Shah Deniz II offshore field.

Some analysts say that Russia is pushing both Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to ship their gas through its pipelines instead, as a way of keeping its energy dominance over the EU. China is also interested in accessing the region's huge energy reserves.

That leaves the EU in a complex bidding game against the two most powerful and assertive players in Central Asia.

During his visit to Azerbaijan, Barroso is expected to meet with President Ilham Aliyev. Details of the visit, including meetings with senior Azerbaijani officials, are still being worked out, the European Commission said earlier.

Barroso's upcoming visit to Azerbaijan is the first one during his term as the head of the European Commission. The visit was previously expected in June 2010, but was postponed due to reforms in the EU.