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Azerbaijanâ€™s Minister of Industry and Energy: â€˜EU must guarantee that it will purchase the gas to be transported via Trans-Caspian gas pipelineâ€™

18 September 2012 07:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Ali Ahmadov - APA-Economics. Agreement of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan is enough for realization of Trans-Caspian gas pipeline project, Minister of Industry and Energy Natig Aliyev said while commenting upon legal status of the Caspian, APA reports.

To him, realization of Trans-Caspian gas pipeline project depends on several factors â€“ economic, political and legal.
â€˜Here the main moment is Turkmenistanâ€™s position. If Turkmenistan considers this project important for itself and accepts this pipeline as a way to the West, Azerbaijan supports this idea and is ready to present its territory for realization of the projectâ€™.

The minister noted that EU was also interested in this project: â€˜Currently, trilateral negotiations are being conducted in this regard. The most essential and arduous issue in the negotiations is connected with the obligations of the sides. Thus, annual capacity of the pipeline must not be less than 30 bln cbm. Besides, the EU must guarantee that it will purchase the gas to be transported via this pipe. The issue related to financier of the project is also unsolvedâ€™.

Aliyev expressed approach of the Azerbaijani side towards legal aspects of projectâ€™s realization within the current situation related to legal status of the Caspian. Note that, recently, Russian side declared that Trans-Caspian pipe can be realized only under the agreement of all Caspian littoral states. However, the US stated that agreement of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan is enough for realization of the project. The minister said that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also affirmed this idea at the summit of Caspian littoral states in Baku: â€˜The talk was about that Caspian littoral states can give their opinions on ecological side of the project. But now, each side swells the moment, more advantageous for itselfâ€™.

Remind that, on September 7, 2011, the EU gave a mandate to the European Commission for conduction of talks with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan on realization of Trans-Caspian project. Thereupon, the European Commission started negotiations with both countries on legal base of the pipeline.

The Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline is a proposed submarine pipeline between Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan, and Baku in Azerbaijan. According to some proposals it will also include a connection between the Tengiz Field in Kazakhstan, and Turkmenbashi. The Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline project if built would transport natural gas from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to central Europe, circumventing both Russia and Iran. The cost of the project is estimated at â‚¬7.9 bln.