EU sees no obstacles to construction of Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline

The European Union sees no political or ecological obstacles to the construction of the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline along the Caspian Sea, EU representative to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan Aurelia Buchez says, RIA Novosti reports.

The pipeline will link Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan as part of Nabucco to transport gas from the Caspian Region to Europe through Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria, bypassing Russia. Nabucco will be 3,300 km long and will be an extension of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum Gas Pipeline with a capacity of 30 billion cubic meters of gas annually. It is worth 7.9 billion euro.

Buchez said at the conference on Caspian Shelf in Astana on Thursday that the EU takes no sides, because it is a matter of the five Caspian states. Russia and Iran are opposed to construction of the pipeline.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the Russia-EU summit that Moscow will not call Caspian decisions legitimate without a consensus. Presidential Assistant Yuri Ushakov added that a consensus of five Caspian states is the only way to make decisions.

Victor Kalyuzhny, former Russian Minister for Fuel and Energy, former Presidential Envoy for the Caspian Sea Status, told Vestnik Kavkaza that there is high seismic activity and unpredictability in the region.

The issue was also discussed at the Caspian Dialogue 2012 Forum in Moscow. A report on the Institute for Oceanology of the RAS presented a report on risks of constructing a pipeline along the sea. The Apsheron area is the most risky part. The whole ecosystem of the sea may suffer if the gas pipeline breaks.