U.S. Special Envoy: Gas transit agreement between Ankara and Baku can be signed after parliamentary elections in Turkey

Sale of Azerbaijani gas to Russia does not have any negative impact on the projects of the Southern Energy Corridor, the U.S. State Department Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy Richard Morningstar said in Baku on Monday.

He said Azerbaijan is a sovereign state and can sell its resources as it pleases. However, he stressed that volumes of Azerbaijani gas sales to Russia are small, and therefore, they have no impact on the Southern Energy Corridor projects.

Morningstar said that it is very important that Azerbaijan would have different gas markets.

"One of these important markets is European. And it would be a mistake by Azerbaijan not to realize this direction, Morningstar said. - Ultimately, the decision is of the country."

Speaking about the agreement between Azerbaijan and Turkey on gas transit, Morningstar expressed hope for its speedy signing.

"I believe that the agreement is very close to be signed. We are very hopeful that it will be signed soon after the parliamentary elections in Turkey. We do not see anything that would prevent the signing of this agreement in the near future," said Morningstar.

Answering journalists’ question regarding possibility of applying sanctions by the U.S. and the EU towards the Azerbaijani gas project "Shah Deniz", 10 percent in which belongs to Iranian NICO, Morningstar stressed that it is necessary to approach to this issue very cautiously.

Consequences of these actions can be very serious. Iran has a small share in the Shah Deniz project, and this country will benefit from the application of sanctions, because then the Azerbaijani gas will not be supplied to Europe, but to Russia or China.

Shah Deniz with reserves at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas is considered as main resource base for the first phase of the Southern Energy Corridor.

Southern Corridor is a priority EU energy project diversifying energy supply routes and sources and increasing EU energy security. The Southern Corridor also includes the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), White Stream, and ITGI (Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline).


/Trend/