By Orhan Coskun
ANKARA, May 5 (Reuters) – Turkey’s efforts to normalise relations with Armenia will not harm planned energy projects with Azerbaijan, including the Nabucco gas pipeline, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on Tuesday.
Turkey’s traditional ally Azerbaijan has objected to U.S.-backed talks with Armenia because it wants to first resolve a dispute with Armenia over its occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave before Turkey opens its borders.
“Energy will play the role of catalyst in bringing relations between Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey to a more positive level,” said Yildiz, who took over the government’s energy portfolio after a cabinet reshuffle at the weekend.
“There’s no plan to delay the projects with Azerbaijan” because of the Armenian normalisation talks, he said.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is due to meet President Ilham Aliyev in Baku next week and is expected to try to allay some of Azeribaijan’s concerns over the thaw in Turkish-Armenian ties.
Partners in the 7.9 billion euro Nabucco project, which has European Union backing, want Azeri gas to fill the pipeline initially when it opens in 2013.
The 3,300-km-long Nabucco will eventually carry about 30 billion cubic metres of gas from the Caspian and Middle East to meet about 5 percent of European demand.
Botas the state pipeline operator in Turkey, Germany’s WE, Austria’s OMV, Budapest-based MOL, Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz and Romania’s Transgaz are partners in Nabucco.
Turkey already buys about 6 billion cubic metres of Caspian natural gas annually after a pipeline from the Azeri Shakh-Deniz field opened in 2007. Some of that gas, which Turkey buys at a discount, is shipped on to Greece.
Turkey is seeking an additional 8 billion cubic metres of gas from Azerbaijan to meet domestic needs, according to Energy Ministry sources.
Botas officials are in Baku this seek to discuss the Turkish request for more gas, Yildiz said. (Writing by Ayla Jean Yackley)
Source: www.guardian.co.uk, May 5 2009