Azernews.Az

MOSCOW – Russia has issued a warning over the European Union's decision on Monday to open talks with Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan to agree shipment of Turkmen natural gas across the Caspian Sea to Europe.

The Russian foreign ministry said that Moscow regrets the EU Council's decision, claiming that it could heighten tension in the region.

"By all appearances, it ignores the current international, legal and real geopolitical situation in the Caspian basin. It is regrettable," the ministry said in a statement Tuesday.

Russia, along with Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, is part of a Caspian treaty group forbidding member states from participating in regional energy deals without the agreement of other signatories, according to the Kremlin statement.

The ministry said all attempts to intervene in the Caspian Sea affairs could seriously complicate the situation in the region and negatively affect talks on the status of the Caspian Sea.

It called on the EU "to respect Russia’s stance and refrain from taking any action".

A trans-Caspian pipeline would also represent a significant threat to the environment, the Kremlin statement said, adding that such a project would become more risky were the EU to lead it.

"As far as we as aware, for the EU this is the first project of this type. We are surprised that the EU is suggesting to put its stakes down precisely in the Caspian Sea, at a location where no EU state has a shore," it said.

The European Commission will lead negotiations on the proposed $5 billion trans-Caspian pipeline, which is part of planned links known as the Southern Corridor, intended to reduce EU dependence on Russian gas.

A number of projects aimed at providing Europe with an alternative to Russian gas have been proposed. The search for alternative delivery routes gained momentum after a row between Russia and transit nation Ukraine led to the cut-off of supplies to western Europe in 2009.

A new agreement between the EU, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan could be particularly beneficial to the proposed Nabucco pipeline, which is a rival to Russia's South Stream project. Nabucco, which would ship gas through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary into Austria and western Europe, has struggled to find enough gas for its planned 31 billion cubic meter capacity.

South Stream will have capacity to deliver 63 bcm of Central Asian and Russian gas to Europe across the Black Sea.

The EU has called on Russia not to hamper the planned Southern Corridor of pipelines. Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger advised Moscow not to stand in the way of Nabucco and smaller Southern Corridor projects, as this would undermine European confidence in natural gas consumption.

Besides Nabucco, the Southern Corridor includes Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy (ITGI) pipeline. The two projects envision gas supplies using Turkey’s existing infrastructure but also call for laying subsea and overland gas pipelines toward the Balkans and Italy.

Oettinger expressed confidence that key strategic decisions on the Southern Corridor will be passed till the end of 2011.

According to him, Russia should be interested in implementing both Nabucco and the alternative TAP and ITGI projects.

"If the Russians come to terms with the fact that the Southern Corridor is inevitable and that their former satellites, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, have the right to make independent decisions, the Europeans will have by far more confidence in gas as an energy resource," Oettinger commented. "Or else, if the Russians try to prevent the Southern Corridor, either technically -- by laying the South Stream pipeline -- or politically -- by putting pressure on Ashgabat and Baku -- personally, I will trust less long-term gas contracts and be less confident about the theory of gas not being a political tool."