Caspian states ‘have sovereign right’ on joint energy projects – Azeri official
The Caspian littoral states have the sovereign right to implement joint transport and energy projects, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov has said on prospects for building the trans-Caspian pipeline between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan that will carry natural gas to the West, bypassing Russia.
"Azerbaijan is open for cooperation as a transit state and ready to offer its capacities for the transit of hydrocarbons," Khalafov said in Astana on Wednesday.
Khalafov has paid a two-day visit to the Kazakh capital to attend a meeting of the taskforce in charge of drafting a convention on the legal status of the resource-rich Caspian Sea. The taskforce is working to resolve the status issue among the five Caspian littoral states - Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran.
The 300-kilometer trans-Caspian pipeline will be laid from the Turkmen coast of the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan where it will be linked to the Nabucco pipeline. The pipeline would allow Turkmenistan to feed its gas reserves into planned European gas routes. 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 Russia, which seeks to maintain its role as the top energy supplier to Europe.
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 Nabucco pipeline is part of planned links known as the Southern Corridor, intended to reduce EU dependence on Russian gas.