ALIYEV: NABUCCO HAS BECOME "TOO POLITICIZED"

PanARMENIAN.Net
29.01.2010 11:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Nabucco lacks a clear leader able to attract the
necessary financing or conduct talks with suppliers and transit
countries, Azerbaijani President said.

"The participation by some in a rival Gazprom project creates a kind
of ambiguity," Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with Bloomberg.

"So far we do not know who is that leader who will move this process
forward," Aliyev said. "Who will engage itself in negotiations with
gas producers, transiters? Who will do the marketing for this gas?

What will be the pricing? So a lot of questions that are not answered
for quite a lot of time," Aliyev said.

Nabucco, backed by the European Union as a way to tap Caspian gas and
diversify supplies away from Russia, has become "too politicized,"
according to him.

"Azerbaijan must know is it all serious about Nabucco," Aliyev said.

"About $20 billion of investment is needed to expand its biggest gas
field, Shah Deniz, to help fill Nabucco."

He also complained about a two-year pricing dispute with Turkey. "The
issues of transit are unresolved. The price for our gas from Turkey is
unsatisfactory so we cannot move forward under these circumstances,"
Aliyev said, Hurriyet Daily News reported.