UPDATE: EU Member States Give Commission Mandate To Negotiate Caspian Pipeline
September 12 2011 - 11:51AM
Dow Jones News
European Union member states agreed Monday to give the European
Commission, the EU's executive arm, a mandate to hold gas talks
with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, probably starting this month.
It's the first time the Commission has been mandated to
undertake energy negotiations on member states' behalf.
"The European Union has adopted a mandate to negotiate a legally
binding treaty between the EU, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to build
a Trans-Caspian Pipeline System," the Commission said in a
statement.
"This is very significant in terms of strengthening our leverage
vis-a-vis key suppliers and partners in energy," said Polish
secretary for European affairs Mikolaj Dowgielewicz. "I hope that
negotiations would start in September. That is currently the plan,"
he added.
Poland currently holds the presidency of the Council of the
European Union.
The mandate is part of the EU's priority of diversifying its gas
supplies, with the 27-nation bloc currently heavily dependent on
gas imports from Russia.
Turkmenistan, which has the fourth-largest gas reserves in the
world, and Azerbaijan could play a key role in diversifying
Europe's supplies.
Both country's could become major gas suppliers through the
proposed Nabucco pipeline, which would receive gas from feeder
lines in eastern Turkey and transport it to the EU.
Nabucco Gas Pipeline International, the company behind the
proposal whose shareholders are six large energy companies
including German RWE (RWE.XE) and Hungarian MOL group, welcomed the
EU move.
"This groundbreaking initiative taken by the European Commission
matches the aim of the Nabucco project to enable the transportation
of a broad diversified gas portfolio," said managing director
Reinhard Mitschek.
-By James Fidler and Frances Robinson, Dow Jones Newswires;
32-(0)2 741-1324; frances.robinson@dowjones.com
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