Azernews.Az

(AFP, September 12) – The European Union on Monday agreed to kick off talks to secure a pipeline deal with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan enabling the Caspian region's huge natural gas reserves to flow directly to Europe.

The decision, taken at a meeting of EU ministers, is aimed at reducing Europe's dependence for around a quarter of its gas on Russia, which has been a frequent source of tension.

Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger dubbed the agreement "a milestone" on the road to securing reliable supplies for the entire bloc via a so-called Southern Corridor encompassing the Caspian basin and Middle East.

Oettinger said it was also a first step in a new EU bid to build "a coordinated and united external energy strategy."

"Europe is now speaking with one voice," he said.

The talks, to be led by the commission on behalf of all 27 member states, will be the first time the EU executive has negotiated an energy treaty for all.

The bloc is home to half a billion consumers and about 20 million companies, but has in recent years been left badly exposed in winter as Russian gas giant Gazprom turned off distribution taps amid disputes with transit state Ukraine.

Taken together, the 27 member states import 60 percent of their electricity-generating gas requirements, and 80 percent their oil.

A Trans-Caspian Pipeline deal would enable the construction of a submarine pipeline connecting Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan, in turn linking that pipeline to others in the Southern Corridor network piping gas to the EU.

Azerbaijan has already pledged to supply Europe with gas but efforts to build the underwater pipeline have been held up by disputes with Turkmenistan as well as objections from Russia.

A deal would boost supplies to Nabucco, a 3,900-kilometre pipeline linking Azerbaijan, Turkey and Austria, another pipeline named ITGI, connecting Turkey, Greece and Italy, and the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline.

The negotiations on building, operating and filling the pipeline will hopefully begin in September, said Poland's European Affairs Minister Mikolaj Dowgielewicz.

"These are important potential partners for the EU," he told a news conference. "Those countries are vital."

Last week, Oettinger called for the EU to assume total control over oil and gas deals individual member states strike with the likes of Russia or Libya.

Oettinger said he was relaxed about winter supplies this year despite a new Russia-Ukraine pricing row, after a "dummy run" with the first gas pumped into the 1,220-kilometre (760-mile) Nord Stream pipeline bypassing Ukraine.

It is to come on stream on November 8, and should guarantee "five percent of annual European consumption."

Gazprom is also involved in further plans for a future Black Sea pipeline called South Stream, alongside Italy's ENO, Germany's Wintershall and France's EDF.