Good Luck and Godspeed: Putin Talks Pipelines
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with participants of the 7th meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in Sochi. The South Stream and Nabucco projects were discussed, with Putin offering his view on the two pipelines projects.
During the dialogue, Sinan Ogan, head of the Centre of International Relations and Strategic Analysis, Turksam posed the following question to Mr. Putin:
“In the 1990s, Russia and Turkey competed in the energy sphere, but now we enjoy bilateral cooperation. Do you think South Stream and Nabucco are rival projects? Mr Erdogan and Mr Berlusconi say they are not rivals. I remember that you said during your visit to Turkey that these two gas pipelines are competing projects. Have you changed your view?”
Vladimir Putin: “Nabucco's biggest problem is lack of guaranteed gas supply. The pipeline does not have guaranteed gas sources, and I don't know if it can find any. Russia will not provide anything [for the pipeline], and Iran has not yet developed the related deposits. The other possible supplier is Azerbaijan, but they are only producing small amounts of natural gas and, besides, they have signed a gas supply contract with Russia. There is Turkmenistan, but it is unclear how much gas it can supply because a gas pipeline has been built from Turkmenistan to China with a capacity of 30 billion cu m. It is not clear if Turkmenistan will be able to supply gas for Nabucco.
There is one more problem in the region - the territorial dispute between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan over the delimitation of the Caspian Sea.
In my opinion, building a pipeline under these circumstances, this unsettled dispute, will be difficult, to put it mildly, if not impossible.
These problems may prevent the implementation of the Nabucco project, although theoretically it is possible to build that pipeline, provided the concerned companies invest billions of dollars in it without signing preliminary contract. Good luck and Godspeed to them; I see nothing dramatic in that possibility.
I'd like to tell you that we have started building a pipeline along the bottom of the Baltic Sea despite the initial problems. It will start pumping gas next year. We are working fast. By the end of next year, in November 2011, this gas is to be delivered to consumers in Germany.
We also acted quickly in the case of South Stream, and we hope for full-scale cooperation with Turkey. We have good relations with the Turkish government led by Mr Erdogan (Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Minister of Turkey) and with President Gul (Abdullah Gul, the President of Turkey). It should be said that this is a major factor in improving interstate relations with Turkey, and that we believe they are reliable partners.
The situation with gas transport to Turkey is currently unfavourable because of terrorist attacks and explosions on the pipeline from Iran. I'd like to tell you that we have responded to the appeals of our partners and friends and are supplying it with the required volume of gas.
We are also considering building a Blue Stream II pipeline across the Black Sea to Turkey. The decision will depend on the consumer market in Cyprus and other countries. Israel is unlikely to import our gas, so we should consider other consumers. We are discussing these options with our Turkish friends.”
Source: RiaNovosti