Pipeliners

21.02.2007 - MosNews - Russia’s state-controlled energy giant Gazprom said it has no interest in the gas pipeline project linking the energy-rich Caspian Sea to Europe, bypassing Russia. The pipeline project, referred to as Nabucco, is expected to run through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria. The construction is scheduled to begin in 2008, so that the pipeline could go on stream in 2011. The European Union expects the project to diversify its supply routes away from Russia and boost European energy security. “So far, Nabucco is only a project,” Gazprom’s spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said, quoted by RIA Novosti. “There is no clear understanding of who will buy the gas and who will sell it.” Addressing journalists from former Soviet republics at a meeting organized by the news agency’s PEN-Club, Gazprom spokesman said the project was considering gas supplies from Iran, Kazakhstan or Turkmenistan. “There are no specific details yet for us to show interest,” Kupriyanov said. The Nabucco project has been under discussion since 2002, and might also include a southern branch from Iraq and other Gulf countries, and, possibly, Iran.