Turkey says energy chapter dispute may delay, but not end Nabucco
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Turkey will support the planned Nabucco pipeline even if talks on its membership to the European Union stall over a dispute on the energy chapter, a senior government official said on Friday. However he added if that were to happen progress on the project may be delayed.
The Nabucco pipeline, which is one day hoped to carry 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) of Caspian or Middle Eastern gas annually to an Austrian hub via Turkey, is seen as one of Europe's best hopes for limiting its dependence on Russian gas.Â
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said last month his country could review its position on the strategic pipeline if the the country's negotiations with the EU are blocked on the energy chapter. Erdogan, however, added Turkey does not have any intention of using the Nabucco issue as a tool in a bid to reassure of his country's commitment.
"We will press ahead with Nabucco even if the accession talks don't make progress," Selim Kuneralp, a senior Turkish government official dealing with Nabucco, was quoted by Reuters as saying in an interview published in Austrian daily Die Presse.
"However, it could take a bit longer then," he said, adding: "There is no formal link between (Turkey's) EU accession and Nabucco, because Nabucco is advantageous for Turkey anyway."
The project has been plagued by delays over investment decisions, changes in EU law, disputes between consortium members and the question of where it would get its supplies.
Kuneralp, who is deputy undersecretary at the Turkish foreign ministry in charge of economic affairs, said progress on Nabucco would be accelerated if the energy portion of Turkey's EU accession talks was opened.
Greek Cyprus told Hurriyet Daily News Online Edition in December it would not let talks on the energy part of the accession process start until an oil exploration dispute was resolved. Greek Cypriots have accused Turkey of harassing hydrocarbon research vessels four times since Nov. 13.
"If Turkey could start the energy chapter of the accession talks, this would speed up the adoption of EU law on energy policy and therefore also speed up Nabucco,"Â Kuneralp said.
He criticized the EU for having wasted time in the past because nobody was in charge of the project, but added that he noticed a pickup in motivation since the Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute last month interrupted gas supplies.
The main gas suppliers for the pipeline will be Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, Kuneralp said. Turkey would have no objections against Russia and Iran as suppliers, he added.
Nabucco's shareholders are Austria's OMV, Hungary's MOL, Romania's Transgaz, Bulgaria's Bulgargaz, Turkey's Botas and Germany's RWE.