Azernews.Az

BAKU – Azerbaijan is an open transit state, head of the state energy firm Socar has said after the European Union's decision on Monday to open talks with Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan on the planned trans-Caspian pipeline that will ship Turkmen natural gas across the Caspian Sea to Europe.

"The trans-Caspian pipeline is not our project, but one between Turkmenistan and the EU," Rovnag Abdullayev said. "According to the European Energy Charter, we are an open transit state, and the infrastructure they want to build is their business…We have already stated our readiness to discuss this issue."

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.

The trans-Caspian pipeline is considered an integral part of the Nabucco project, designed to transport gas from the Caspian region and the Middle East to the EU. The 390-kilometer pipeline will be laid from the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan where it will be linked to the Nabucco pipeline.

Talks between Turkmenistan and the EU on the construction of the trans-Caspian pipeline have been underway since the late 1990s. Its construction has been hampered by the unresolved legal status of the resource-rich Caspian Sea.