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Mathew Bryza: Cooperation of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and the US on energy projects changes strategic map

02 August 2007 17:35 (UTC +04:00)

He congratulated Azerbaijani and Greek governments on signing an agreement on transportation of Azeri gas to Greece. Mathew Bryza regarded this agreement as Azerbaijanâ€™s access to international gas market.
American diplomat mentioned that Turkish, Greek and Italian governments signed a relevant agreement on gas transportation last year and said Azeri gas will be transported to Europe directly.
â€œCooperation of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and the US on Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and other projects changes strategic map. This is a positive point.
Our aim is free competition. But we do not mean confrontation with Russia by saying â€œcompetitionâ€. We need to make the competition climate by avoiding the confrontation.â€
Matthew Bryza reminded the cooperation memorandum between Azerbaijan and the US on energy:â€This memorandum confirms Azerbaijan and US â€˜s cooperation intention with other littoral states on transportation of the Caspian gas to Europe. There are some possible ways to transport Turkmen gas to Europe. From commercial point of view the scenario below is possible:â€ The gas extracted from Turkmenistan will be transported to Azerbaijan via the Caspian Sea, world market via Turkey, Greece, Italy and NABUCCO project states. The gas could be transported partially to China and Russia. There exists another option-to transport Turkmen gas to Turkey via Iran. I do not appreciate this option either from commercial or geopolitical point of view. Why do we need the transportation of Turkmen gas through Iran? This will just raise gas price./APA/