Foreign

Home page

Foreign

US analyst Jim Nichol: â€œThe fact that Russia has attempted to buy up gas supplies in Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, is an attempt to undermine Nabuccoâ€

14 February 2011 09:16 (UTC +04:00)

The report was prepared for Members and Committees of the Congress.

The author reminds that, like the Bush Administration, the Obama Administration has promoted the diversification of natural gas supplies and pipelines to Europe, including the building of pipelines from Central Asia and the Caspian region that bypass Russia, chief among them Nabucco. However, the Obama Administration has been less critical of Nord Stream and South Stream than the previous Administration.

â€œPart of the change in tone may be due to the effort to â€œre-setâ€ ties with Russia that were frayed during the Bush yearsâ€ he mentioned, arguing that the ambassador Richard Morningstar, the State Department Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy, has denied that the United States and Russia are involved in a â€œgreat gameâ€ -that is, a geopolitical struggle -for Central Asian energy supplies.

According to Mr. Nichol, â€œwhile denying that Nabucco and South Stream are conflicting projects, Russian officials have cast doubt on Nabuccoâ€™s prospects, claiming that the gas supplies for such a pipeline may be difficult to findâ€.

â€œSome members of Congress, US officials, and European leaders (particularly those in central and eastern Europe) have claimed that European dependence on Russian energy and Russiaâ€™s growing influence in large segments of Europeâ€™s energy infrastructure poses a long-term threat to transatlantic relationsâ€, he reminds, adding, that those concerned about the possible consequences of overdependence on Russia for energy have called for the building of pipelines circumventing Russian territory that would transport non- Russian gas supplies to Europe.

â€œThe EU is supporting the creation of the Nabucco pipeline, which could have a capacity of 31 bcm per year. It would get its supplies from Azerbaijan and perhaps Turkmenistan through pipelines in Georgia and Turkey. Nabucco received a boost in July 2009, when Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement on the project. It is hoped that work on the pipeline could begin in 2012, with the first gas supplies available by 2015 and full capacity reached in 2019â€, Jim Nichol writes.