New Europe
Sept 20 2009

Azeri participation in Nabucco hinges on its consumers

20 September 2009 – Issue : 852

Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Kazakhstan Lyatif Gandilov talked to New
Europe about energy ties with Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbaev is expected to pay an
official visit late this month to the capital of Azerbaijan,
Baku. Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Kazakhstan Lyatif Gandilov talked to
New Europe correspondent in Astana Kulpash Konyrova in an excusive
interview about the matters to be discussed between the leaders of
Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

Ambassador, energy is leading the cooperation between the two
republics. And, as is known, US Department of State Special Envoy for
Eurasian Energy Richard Morningstar has recently visited just these
two former Soviet republics ` Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan…

That’s not surprising. Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are of a great
interest today not only to overseas partners, but also to many other
countries worldwide. And the reason for that lies not only in the rich
resources of our lands, but also in the fact that the two republics
are the leaders in their respective regions: Kazakhstan – in Central
Asia, and Azerbaijan – in the South Caucasus.
Both our countries are promising hydrocarbons supplies. Both
Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are also transit countries through which oil
and gas from the Caspian region can be shipped to the world
markets. Currently, over 10 agreements are in the works that may be
signed during the forthcoming visit of the Kazakh president to
Baku. They concern cooperation in the above-mentioned energy sector,
transport, agriculture, emergency situations, and consular services.
However, I would like to mention that the base document that defines
the nature of our relations is an agreement on strategic partnership
and allied relations signed in 2005.
Over the four years since the agreement, the two former Soviet
republics have done a lot to mutually strengthen our positions. First
of all, speaking of energy, I mean the oil pipeline
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan.
The same in 2005, Kazakhstan signed a document expressing its support
for this project. In November last year, the first 300,000 tons of
Kazakhstan crude were pumped through this pipeline. Today, this volume
has grown to almost one million tons. On the whole, including railway
transport, almost three million tons of crude transit through
Azerbaijan.
The second, but not less important, energy project is the Kazakhstan
Caspian system of pipelines (KCTS) jointly implemented by our two
national oil companies. As you know, once Kashagan become operative,
this system will make it possible to transport your crude up to Baku,
from where it can go to the world markets either by the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan or by the Baku-Supsa.
I would like to note that when the oil price fell to 40 dollars, our
two countries did not stop for a minute to work on KCTS. Both
countries understood that KCTS was not just an alternative route, but
a way out of the crisis. As far as I know, the project feasibility
study is practically ready. And this project will be in the centre of
attention at the meeting of the two leaders in Baku.
As is known, while visiting Astana, Mr. Morningstar, who you mentioned
earlier, clearly expressed the White House’s position with respect to
KCTS. They pin big hopes on it for supplies of our crude to Europe.

It’s clear about oil. What about gas? Azerbaijan is known to support
the Nabucco project.

Many countries have expressed their interest in this project, first of
all, the European Union member states. And if the consumers will want
to see it implemented, Azerbaijan will do everything possible to
fulfill this project.
Currently, all technical details of the project are being verified. If
the project is approved, our republic will be prepared to provide to
Nabucco some eight to ten billion cubic meters of its gas, with
possible growth in the future.

Speaking of pipelines, your president, Ilham Aliev, often mentions
that the future of all oil and gas projects in the region will depend
of security and stability in the Caucasus. What is the status of the
frozen Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?

It should be noted that the Nagorno-Karabakh issue has been actively
discussed lately. However, in my opinion, after the Georgian events,
more commitment to the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
should be expected. Yes, everybody agrees that it should be resolved
peacefully, but the process of resolution should not be so long and
endless that it would force the sides to use arms to resolve it. In my
view, it is necessary to speed up this process, as complex as it may
be. But its resolution will give an impetus to good developments in
solving other frozen conflicts.

hp