Azernews.Az

BAKU – The consortium on the Nabucco gas pipeline project is seeking to take action this year to begin building the European Union-backed conduit that aims to pump Caspian gas to Europe.

Managing Director of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH Reinhard Mitschek has told Radio Liberty’s Turkmen Service that within a year the consortium will decide on the supplies of materials for the pipeline, hold detailed discussions with major lenders on financing the project and seek to approve the final investment plan for Nabucco by the year-end.

Mitschek said gas for the pipeline could come not only from Phase 2 of developing the huge Shahdaniz offshore field but also other deposits in Azerbaijan. Talks are also underway on securing supplies from Turkmenistan and northern Iraq, he said.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso is due in Baku on Thursday to discuss energy issues in a bid to secure gas supplies from Azerbaijan.

Asked whether the unresolved legal status of the Caspian Sea could affect the deliveries of Turkmenistan’s gas to the Nabucco pipeline through Azerbaijan, Mitschek said relevant legal issues have been studied.

"We have conducted evaluations of international law. Based on that, signing of an agreement between Baku and Ashgabat is sufficient for laying a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan under the Caspian Sea."

Nabucco is the EU's flagship energy project, designed to pipe fuel from the Caspian Sea and Central Asia to Austria via Turkey, bypassing Russia. Talks on the project began in 2002, but a final decision is still in the offing. First supplies through the 3,300 kilometer pipeline are expected in 2015. Maximal capacity of the pipeline will be 31 billion cubic meters per year.

But Russia, the main supplier of gas to European markets, is pressing ahead with its rival South Stream and Nord Stream projects. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said finding sources of fuel for Nabucco is highly unlikely.

But Mitschek said that gas for Nabucco could be purchased even from Russia.

"Nabucco is not an anti-Russian project, it is a European pipeline," he added.