EU Envoy Says Armenia May Be Route For Future Pipeline

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By Asbarez Staff on Feb 19th, 2010

ANKARA (Hurriyet) – The European Union’s special representative to
Central Asia on Friday said he expected to see Armenia becoming a
route for a future energy pipeline if Yerevan and Ankara quickly move
to normalize relations and open their sealed border.

`There have been different options. Things have not been fixed up to
now. The greatest idea to say is well, in the future, why not use
Armenia as a way for other pipelines,’ Pierre Morel told the Turkish
Hurriyet Daily in an interview.

Morel said he saw many options for new Caspian-Turkish energy
pipelines due to the `mobile energy landscape’ and predicted that
Armenia could be the site of a future network.

`There have been different ideas about the energy routes. The southern
corridor is not just Nabucco, but a wider concept,’ he said. `It is
also about transportation. We have to move transportation to the
Caucasus.’

The Nabucco pipeline is an EU-led and US-backed project aimed at
transporting Middle Eastern and Caspian gas through Turkey to Europe
in an effort to break the Russian monopoly over regional energy
supplies.

`But once again look at what the other corridors are,’ Morel said. `A
corridor is not one pipeline. A corridor is a system of pipelines. For
sure, when the southern corridor takes shape, you’ll have a system of
pipelines.’

Morel said, `Nabucco is going through a good phase and has been moving
through important steps’ following the signing of an
inter-governmental agreement in Ankara last summer.

`Many said Nabucco was a dream … [But] this was done and Turkey played
an important role. We’re coming step-by-step toward concretization,’
he said.

One of the major obstacles for Nabucco is a lack of gas earmarked for
transit. Morel said northern Iraq could be a potential source while
emphasizing hesitations over Iranian gas.

`We have had more discussions today about northern Iraq as a potential
source of gas for Nabucco. [Meanwhile,] there are question marks
connected with Iran, not only political questions, but the context of
the Iranian energy policy, which has been rather specific,’ he said.

Morel held discussions at parliament as well as the foreign and prime
ministries regarding Caspian energy, the southern corridor, Central
Asian developments and the Turkish-Russian relationship.

Commenting on Azerbaijan’s energy policy, Morel said it had become
clear the country was trying to keep its options open.

Baku signed a deal with Russian energy giant Gazprom last year to
transfer 500 million cubic meters of gas to Europe in the first phase
of the Shah Deniz gas field. The agreement, which followed the
normalization process between Turkey and Armenia, was regarded as an
ultimatum to Ankara and a blow to the Nabucco plan.

`[Azerbaijan] is sending signals to their different partners,’ Morel
said, adding that the country is also trying to send signals to
Turkey, the EU and Russia. `The 500-cubic-meter agreement they signed
with Russia is specific, not long-term. It is for one time, but it is
also a signal.’

He said all the major European energy companies presently operating in
Azerbaijan were following the developments `very closely.’