Azerbaijan gas pipeline opens
A new 285 km pipeline will bring natural gas from Azerbaijan, via Tirkey and Greece, to Europe for the first time, in a move that will partly relieve the EU's heavy dependence on Russian gas
The connection was opened on Sunday by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Greek counterpart Costas Karamanlis on a bridge over a river separating the two countries.
Karamanlis said the symbolic move indicated a thaw between the old rivals as Turkey progresses on its way to EU membership, despite persisting disagreement over the island of Cyprus.
The pipeline will bring natural gas from Azerbaijan and is part of the so-called Southern European Gas Ring project. Its capacity, currently at 250 million cubic metres of gas a year, is expected to triple when it is extended to Italy via a connection under the Adriatic Sea, expected to be completed in 2012.
The project has received financial and political backing from the European Union, which is keen to diversify its gas supplies away from Russia as tensions with Moscow have multiplied in recent years.
Ankara is also a key partner in the Nabucco pipeline project which is expected to bring Caspian gas to Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria via Turkey. However, the project has been delayed due to financial and political difficulties.
"Turkey is moving fast to become the fourth energy supply route for natural gas to Western Europe. There is a mutual dependence in energy policies which will help create a favourable atmosphere," Erdogan said.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and US Secretary for Energy Samuel Bodman, in a sign that the America is keen to see the project through. "Turkey is an important energy gateway between the East and the West," Secretary Bodman said.
