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Richard Morningstar: â€œSigning of agreement on Nabucco in Turkey will be a useful step in terms of diversification of energy routesâ€

06 June 2011 13:41 (UTC +04:00)

He expressed confidence that the agreement to be signed on June 8 between the transit countries would create a good choice for Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and other supplier countries. Speaking on the continuing debate on energy cooperation between Azerbaijan and the U.S., Morningstar said that next week during his visit to Ashgabat, he will discuss Trans-Caspian project with the leaders of Turkmenistan.

With regard to the signing of an agreement for the sale of natural gas between Turkey and Azerbaijan, Morningstar said the clarity in this matter would be made after completion of the election campaign in Turkey: â€œIn any case, I do not see any obstacles to the signing of this documentâ€.

To APAâ€™s question â€œIf we consider the agreement for the sale of natural gas between Russia and Azerbaijan and Moscow’s desire to buy Azerbaijani gas in large volumes, it is not dominated by Russia over whether the United States in monitoring the regional gas market?â€, Morningstar said that Azerbaijan decides to whom it sold its gas. â€œAzerbaijan - a sovereign state, and it decides to whom it sells its gas. I would not say that someone pushes someone. Gas market is a free and dynamic. We just want to have a balance here and the alternativeâ€. To him, at present Azerbaijan supplies Russia small volumes of gas and therefore, it is able to diversify the exportsâ€.

He added that the Southern Corridor project is a priority for the U.S. and Washington strongly supports it.