Azernews.Az

BAKU – The agreement on the planned Southern Corridor of pipelines signed by the European Union and Azerbaijan on Thursday is crucial and confirms the parties’ interest in realizing the project, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said at the end of his visit to Baku on Friday.

The EU-Azerbaijan declaration, signed by President Ilham Aliyev and the European Commission chief, commits the resource-rich Caspian country to supply Europe with "substantial volumes of gas" to implement the Southern Corridor initiative.

"The Southern Corridor project meets the interests of all sides involved. This is a kind of a win-win situation," Barroso told journalists. "Moreover, the project allows to diversify gas supplies, which is primarily of interest for the EU countries. It also facilitates infrastructure development in Azerbaijan and opens access [for the country] to world markets."

Barroso reiterated that the Nabucco project, which is part of the Southern Corridor, is pivotal for the 27-country bloc.

"The European Commission has dubbed it ‘a project of European interests’. The EU believes that the implementation of the Nabucco project has substantial economic grounds."

Regarding the planned exports via Nabucco of gas produced from Azerbaijan’s giant Shahdaniz field in the Caspian Sea, Barroso said this was a commercial issue.

"The decision on Nabucco is to be passed by business companies. We can only provide our political backing for the project."

Barroso said further that resource-rich Turkmenistan is a country deemed pivotal for the EU in the Caspian region.

"Turkmenistan could commit huge volumes of its gas resources for European markets. We could provide both legal and technical assistance in seeking transportation routes for its gas exports."

The Southern Corridor is the EU’s ambitious project that includes Nabucco, Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline (ITGI), White Stream and Trans-Adriatic pipelines. It aims to diversify routes and sources of energy supply, easing Europe's dependence on Russian energy.

Azerbaijan’s Shahdaniz field, which holds estimated reserves of 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas, is considered one of the key sources of fuel for these projects.