Agreement on "Nabucco" under threat because of gas shortage in Azerbaijan

Today, Turkish media report that signing of the intergovernmental agreement on the "Nabucco" energy project, which had been planned for mid-July, can be postponed because of unsettled problem of filling in the trans-Caspian gas main with gas.

Negotiations on "Nabucco", where one of the main issues is in guarantee of filling in the pipeline with gas, are underway for years. They became more active in early 2009, after the Russian-Ukrainian gas conflict burst out.

"Initially, the agreement on the project that assumes deliveries of energy carriers to Europe bypassing Russia was to be signed in Ankara on June 25. Then, the date of signing was moved to July 15. The main reason of the arisen problems is in lack of gas for filling in the pipeline," the "Moskovskiy Komsomolets" quotes the "Aksham" newspaper.

In the opinion of this paper, the shortage of energy carriers is also confirmed by Russia's obtaining of the rights to sell the whole gas of Turkmenia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, which were important sources of the project ("Nabucco").

"For this very reason, probability of signing the intergovernmental agreement on the project in July is doubtful," the "News-Georgia" quotes the Turkish newspaper.