NABUCCO AGREEMENT SIGNED IN ANKARA
/PanARMENIAN.Net/
13.07.2009 16:14 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
that even the energy project clearly showed that Turkey should become
an EU member.
"The Nabucco project will lay the groundwork for further improvement
of Turkey’s relations with the EU in energy," Erdogan said during
the Nabucco summit in the Turkish capital of Ankara, where Nabucco
Intergovernmental Agreement was signed.
Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria signed the Nabucco
Intergovernmental Agreement during the summit. The Nabucco Project
will transport natural gas to Austria via Turkey.
"We are taking an important step for our countries, friendship and
peace, and the welfare of upcoming generations," Erdogan said.
The 3,300-kilometre (2,000-mile) pipeline is to pump gas from the
Caspian Sea to Austria while bypassing Russia — the main source of
Europe’s gas.
The project is planned to become operational in 2014 and estimated
to cost 7.9 billion euros (10.6 billion dollars).
It is in direct competition with Russia’s South Stream project,
developed by Russian gas giant Gazprom and Italy’s Eni, which will
channel Russian gas through Bulgaria to Western Europe under the
Black Sea.