SEPT. 9 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The EU is itching to sign a final deal with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan for gas supplies to its proposed Nabucco pipeline project.

Nabucco is at the heart of the EU’s future energy policy. It wants to reduce its dependency on Russia for gas supplies and instead develop a pipeline network from the Caspian Sea, across the South Caucasus to the centre of Europe.

At its core, the plan relies on gas from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan but despite years of lobbying they are still considering their options and there is still no final deal.

Now, though, the EU appears to mean business. On Sept. 12 2011, the EU said it wanted to negotiate a final treaty as a united bloc with both Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan on filling Nabucco which aims to have a capacity of 31b cubic metres/year, one of the biggest in the world.

Azerbaijan has already said it would supply gas and Turkmenistan has hinted that it would but the EU needs to know just how much and when in order to get its ambitious project off the ground.

Part of the delay has been over a pipeline running across the Caspian Sea bed, linking Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, a project that Russia has been against.

Symbolically, the EU’s decision to negotiate a final deal with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan as a united bloc is important too. This is the first time the 27 nation group has attempted to negotiate an energy deal together — again underlining the importance it places on Nabucco.

ENDS