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Doubts arise over Nabucco pipeline in Turkish Parliament
The report, issued on Monday by the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, before unanimously agreeing to submit the Nabucco agreement to Parliament for ratification, issued a warning over “the fact there are uncertainties concerning those countries that will provide financial backing for the project poses a serious risk.”
Committee members also expressed concerns about the role of Azerbaijan, underlining that the implementation of the project primarily hinges on the participation of Azerbaijan. “The support of Azerbaijan will play a key role [in the Nabucco project],” the report said.
During committee deliberations, Energy Minister Taner Yıldız argued that he is quite optimistic about the possibility that Turkey will ink an agreement with Azerbaijan in the near future, saying both countries support each other technically, politically and in bilateral relations. “Baku can provide 7 to 8 billion cubic meters of natural gas for the Nabucco pipeline,” he said, adding that the start-up capacity for the construction of the pipeline is approximately the same amount. “I mean with 8 billion cubic meters of gas, we can start the project; the rest of the countries will follow,” Yıldız added.
Relations between Turkey and oil and gas-rich Azerbaijan have been strained in recent days because of the normalization efforts of Turkey with long-time foe Armenia. Turkey and Armenia signed protocols to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries, paving the way to the opening of the border.
Azerbaijan has objected strongly to the move, arguing that Turkey should not proceed with the ratification of these protocols unless Yerevan vacates the occupied territories and returns them to the Azerbaijanis.
The committee report acknowledged, however, natural gas consumer countries have achieved a relatively advantageous position compared to producing countries due to the global economic crisis and noted the dynamic gas industry may provide new resources to finance the project.
The deputies also expressed concern over Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s remarks on Nabucco. Putin said the project runs counter to the South Stream project, which would transport Russian natural gas through the Black Sea to Bulgaria and further on to Italy and Austria. The Turkish energy minister disagreed, however, saying in the medium and long term the pipelines will complement each other. He also underlined that Turkey could develop projects that will enable it to work with both the United States and Russia at the same time.
Yıldız further argued that the realization of Nabucco may take eight to 10 years but stressed it will happen eventually. “We saw similar concerns with the BTC [Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan] pipeline. Some said it was a mirage at the time. But we are at very positive stage now,” he said. The BTC pipeline carries Azerbaijani oil from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean.
The government says the Nabucco pipeline will create employment opportunities in Turkey as two-thirds of the 3,300-kilometer-long pipeline will be constructed in Turkey. Ankara also sees the pipeline project as strengthening its European Union bid.
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