Turkish minister says Nabucco agreement may be postponed to July

PanARMENIAN.Net - The signing of a key intergovernmental agreement on the European Union's Nabucco gas pipeline may be postponed to July, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said Thursday.



Yildiz said it was not clear if the agreement would include a clause on Turkey's demand for discounted prices on 15 percent of the gas pumped through the Nabucco pipeline. "What is important is the provision of Turkey's supply safety. We can provide this either from Nabucco or other energy-producer countries," he was quoted by news agencies as telling reporters in Ankara.



Yildiz's remarks came a couple days after European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said the agreement would be signed by early July at the latest. At a meeting in Prague in May, the EU and Turkey had said they wanted to wrap up talks on the Nabucco deal "as quickly as possible (and) to sign it by the end of June 2009.", Hurriyet Daily News reported.



The 3,300-kilometer Nabucco pipeline is due to bring gas from the Caspian Sea to Austria via Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, while bypassing Russia, in a bid to reduce Europe's energy dependence on Moscow.