NABUCCO DEAL EXPECTED ON JUNE 25

PanARMENIAN.Net
12.05.2009 10:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey and the European Union reached a
"breakthrough" agreement on the Nabucco natural gas pipeline without
conditions, officials said.

The Czech Republic hosted a regional summit in Prague last week on
the so-called Southern Corridor, a network of energy transit routes
that includes the heralded Nabucco gas pipeline.

Turkey would host a major portion of the 2,050-mile pipeline. Ankara
said in April it was waiting for European decisions on the pipeline,
with a deal expected in June.

European officials said the deal was now expected on June 25.

"This is a complete breakthrough," an unnamed official involved in
the Turkish negotiations told the newspaper. "The Turks have accepted
our terms. There is no conditionality."

Nabucco negotiations were complicated by Turkey’s efforts at joining
the ranks of the EU and its demands for a portion of the gas traveling
through the pipeline. European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs
told The Guardian, however, that Ankara’s demand for 15 percent of
the gas is gone.

Europe sees Nabucco as the answer to its energy diversification
efforts. The $10.7 billion pipeline would bring gas supplies from
Central Asia and the Middle East to Europe without using Russian
resources or its territory, UPI reports.