Azernews.Az

The NABUCCO pipeline, planned to pump gas from the resource-rich Caspian and Central Asia regions to Europe while bypassing Russia, may face serious challenges, US Senator Richard Lugar has said.
He noted, however, that the Western-backed project would, in any event, be built.
Lugar, the Republican leader of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Russia might pose obstacles for the implementation of the project, which will primarily serve to prevent European countries from becoming reliant upon Russian gas.
"Agreements reached by some European states with Moscow to build new gas pipelines may pose a threat to NABUCCO. I am talking about Italy and Germany. The deal signed by Russia with Germany covers the North Stream gas pipeline, while that with Italy envisions construction of the South Stream pipeline. Moreover, Russia has new agreements with Greece, Hungary and Bulgaria on gas exports," the senator said.
He concluded that, at a time that all of Europe is seeking to reduce its dependency on Russian energy resources, several European nations, by joining an alliance with Moscow, are actually countering the interests of NATO and the European Union.
"Any large-scale project may face hurdles. But this cannot block construction of a major gas conduit like NABUCCO, as this project, which envisions taking gas produced in the Caspian Sea to Europe, fully complies with economic interests of the EU and the United States."
"On the other hand, the latest developments in the Caucasus once again highlight how important projects without Russia`s participation are for the West," Lugar said.
The NABUCCO project, worth 8 billion euros, is designed to deliver 30 billion cubic meters of gas to European markets through a 3,300-kilometer pipeline traveling through Azerbaijan and Turkey to Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria. Construction of the pipeline is due to begin in 2010, while delivery of the first gas shipment is expected in 2013. So far, only Azerbaijan has agreed to transport its gas via NABUCCO.
"Energy stranglehold"
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he would press European leaders to increase funding to the NABUCCO pipeline, in a bid to reduce dependency on Russian energy.
"I will encourage European partners to use our collective bargaining power rather than seek separate energy deals with Russia," Brown said in an article in Sunday`s Observer newspaper entitled "This is how we will stand up to Russia`s naked aggression".
"No nation can be allowed to exert an energy stranglehold over Europe…Without urgent action, we risk sleepwalking into an energy dependence on less stable or reliable partners."
Brown wrote that the events of August have shown the critical importance of diversifying energy supply. The tenfold increase in the world oil price in the past decade has demonstrated that diversification from oil is also an economic necessity, he said. Brown said states such as Russia are increasingly using their energy resources as policy tools.
"We must more rapidly build relationships with other producers of oil and gas. Our response must include a redoubling of our efforts to complete a single market in gas and electricity, a collective defence to secure our energy supplies."