The visit, which was initially planned for a larger number of supply and transit countries, was finally restricted to Turkey and Azerbaijan due to calendar constraints, said Piebalgs's spokesperson Ferran Tarradellas. The commissioner would also like to visit Kazakhstan and Egypt in the short term, Tarradellas told EurActiv.
However, Turkmenistan will not be visited by the commissioner this time round, Tarradellas said. The country, which is home to the largest gas reserves of the Caucasus, is being heavily courted by Russia to sell its gas to Gazprom at world market prices. Moscow could then resell it to Europe as "Russian" gas, according to the strategy.
The project for a pipeline to bring gas from the Caucasus to Western Europe was named 'Nabucco' after Verdi's opera, which is set in the ancient Mesopotamian city of Babylon, on the territory of today's Iraq. A future branch of Nabucco to Iraq, which holds the world's tenth largest gas reserves, is seen by the Commission as "very important".
Tarradellas said Iraq had shown interest in selling gas to Nabucco, adding that discussions had already taken place about the transfer of substantial amounts of Iraqi gas via Syria and the Trans-Arabian gas pipeline, or directly via a link between Iraq and Turkey.
Recently, Russian Ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov dismissed the potential of the Nabucco project, and especially plans to bring gas from Turkmenistan or Azerbaijan, claiming the resources of the two Central Asian countries were insufficient. The only way to fill the Nabucco pipeline was with Iranian gas, he said (EurActiv 30/04/08).
Iran, which holds 15% the world's estimated gas reserves, is not on the commissioner's list due to the uranium enrichment row between Western countries and Teheran, which prevents the EU from developing the project.
The Commission's Nabucco coordinator, Jozias van Aartsen, a former Dutch minister of foreign affairs, had been very active in the region, Tarradellas said, but this time the efforts are taken to a higher level, and European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso is also planning to visit the region in the near future.
Tarradellas confirmed that Nabucco is a project the EU wants to build on "market assumptions", meaning that it should be cost-effective and profitable. The rival South Stream project promoted by Gazprom is seen by specialists as a more "political" project, which is not necessarily cost-effective. But the Commission spokesperson made it plain that the EU does not oppose South Stream, since its realisation would bring more gas to the EU and hopefully bring prices down.
Speaking at a recent plenary session in Parliament, MEPs criticised the Commission for being slow in starting the Nabucco project. Tarradallas said the commissioner's visit should not be seen as a reaction to this criticism, but rather as business as usual in implementing a high priority project.
Libya boosts relations with Russia
Meanwhile, Gazprom is pursuing its own diplomatic efforts. In a recent meeting with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who visited Moscow over the weekend, the Russian state monopoly reportedly offered to buy all of Libya's gas production in a deal similar to those it is trying to strike in the Caucasus. "We think alike about gas and oil policies," Gaddafi said, according to the Interfax news agency.
Asked if such a deal would hamper Nabucco, Tarradellas said Libya already supplied gas to Italy directly or through Tunisia. Selling its gas to Russia was "not the most intelligent thing" for Libya to do, he said.
Libya also bought two billion dollars-worth of Russian-made fighter jets, helicopters, antiaircraft missiles and tanks. Moreover, the Russian press reported that Libya might offer to allow Russian ships to use the Mediterranean port of Benghazi as a naval base.
