US and EU to increase gas supplies from Caspian and Middle East regions

"We noted the June 7, 2010 signing of a gas transit and pricing agreement between Turkey and Azerbaijan, which opened the way for producers and shippers to negotiate contracts to bring Caspian gas to European markets", EU-US Energy Council participants reported in their press statement allocated on the website of the European Union.

Ministerial-level Participants on the EU side were the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton, Energy Minister Freya Van den Bossche for the EU Presidency and Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger, and on the US side US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Energy Daniel Poneman.

According to the statement, the participants reviewed the work of the Energy Security Working Group and were encouraged by progress since the last meeting in the development of a Southern Corridor to diversify sources and routes to help meet Europe's long-term natural gas requirements.

"We noted the June 7, 2010 signing of a gas transit and pricing agreement between Turkey and Azerbaijan, which opened the way for producers and shippers to negotiate contracts to bring Caspian gas to European markets. We look forward to the conclusion of commercial agreements with the Shah Deniz II consortium in early 2011, which will trigger actual construction of the necessary infrastructure", they underlined in the press statement.

At the same time the Energy Council participants considered additional, non-Caspian sources of gas for the Southern Corridor, agreeing that Iraq has the potential to export while meeting its own domestic requirements.

The European Union and the United States established the EU-U.S. Energy Council at the ministerial level in November 2009 to deepen their dialogue in these areas. The Energy Council met again today to review progress and delegate new projects to the working groups on security, technology and policy.


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