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Dmitry Primus Gorenburg: Azerbaijan is the one of the main energy supplying players in the Caspian region

04 June 2010 04:59 (UTC +04:00)

Mr. Gorenburg pointed out that the recent events in the region â€“ energy dialog between Iran and Azerbaijan, gas agreement between Baku and Moscow and Turkmenistanâ€™s unstable position about where to sell its energy resources - have certainly reduced the economic rationale for Nabucco, but at the same time, the primary rationale for the project was always more political than economic.

â€œThere’s enough natural gas in the region to provide a supply for multiple projects. It seems to me that the best way forward is to merge Nabucco and South Stream. There’s no reason to always pose the energy politics in the region as a competition between Russia and Europe/US interests. A project in which Russia had a stake but did not control would provide for the political goals of diversifying Europe’s energy supply while also giving Russia an economic stake in the project, silencing those critics who believe that the sole purpose of Nabucco is to take revenues away from Russiaâ€, - he said.

Mr. Gorenburg also believes that, â€œAzerbaijan is the one of the main energy supplying players in the Caspian regionâ€.

According to him, beside Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan is also a main oil player in the region and Turkmenistan is important because of the natural gas it has, though Azerbaijan of course also has a role in natural gas: â€œRussia’s main deposits are outside the region, though it does have some fields it shares with Kazakhstanâ€.

Analyst also stated that, both energy diversification and a better relationship with Russia are stated goals for the US administration: â€œThe question is how to reconcile the two. My belief is that this can be done by giving Russia a stake in Nabucco and other new Caspian energy projects, but not a controlling stakeâ€.