SOFIA, Bulgaria (AFP)--Political squabbles marred a European gas
summit Friday that has already been badly undermined by the absence
of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Turkish premier Recep
Tayyip Erdogan.
The summit is aimed at finding ways to secure natural gas
supplies for Europe after a payment dispute between Russia and
Ukraine cut off deliveries to much of Europe in the middle of a
particularly cold winter in January.
Gas consumers, transit countries and suppliers discussed how to
inject fresh momentum into plans to diversify Europe's gas sources
and supply routes.
But Putin's last-minute decision to skip the forum effectively
stalled any discussion on the Moscow-backed South Stream pipeline
to channel Russian gas to Europe via the Black Sea.
And Erdogan's absence threw a shadow over the European Union's
flagship Nabucco pipeline project, aimed at bringing Caspian Sea
gas to Europe via Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary while
bypassing Russia.
Officials at the summit complained the projects being held up by
bitter political squabbling and lack of agreement over funding and
gas supplies.
And they called on the main players - and Europe in particular -
to provide the necessary impulses for the projects to proceed
quickly.
"It is time for the poker game to end and for decisions to be
made," said a top official from one of Nabucco's six shareholders,
German power giant RWE AG (RWE.XE).
The other members of the Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH
are: Turkey's Botas AS, Bulgarian Energy Holding, Hungary's MOL PLC
(MOL.BU), Austria's OMV Gas and Power GmbH (OMV.VI) and Romania's
Transgaz S.A.
Turkey was recently accused of holding the European Union to
ransom by using the pipeline to boost its bid for E.U. membership
and attempting to become a gas supplier to Europe by buying gas
from Azerbaijan and re-selling it to the EU.
Moscow has also turned up its efforts to woo Azerbaijan with
promises of major gas purchases.
Both Nabucco and South Stream will depend on gas from the Middle
East and the Caspian region.
Moscow has long bought gas from the region and re-sold it, but
none of the supplier countries from the former Soviet Union have so
far exported gas directly to Europe.
Managing director of the Nabucco Pipeline Company, Reinhard
Mitschek, said he was hopeful that, despite Erdogan's absence,
talks with Turkey would lead to the signing of an intergovernmental
agreement for Nabucco by June.
"The progress on the intergovernmental agreement is promising
and we expect the finalisation of the wording and hopefully also
the signing by June," he told AFP on the sidelines of the
talks.
Both Nabucco and South Stream are planned to come on line by
2014.
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