LOC19:48
16:48 GMT
By Nawab Khan
BRUSSELS, Jan 11 (KUNA) -- The 27--member European Union (EU) and the
six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are holding talks and consultations
to strengthen their energy cooperation especially in the field of natural gas,
EU sources said here today.
"Gas will remain the most important fuel for decades to come. We in the EU
need to increase our gas imports and also develop diversification of supply
sources," the EU sources told journalists speaking on the condition of
anonymity.
In reply to a question by the Kuwait News Agency, on EU-GCC gas
cooperation, the sources pointed out that the two sides are discussing the
creation of a group of experts to strengthen cooperation, in particular with
Qatar and Kuwait.
Qatar is the third most important supplier to the EU delivering LNG
(liquefied natural gas) at port terminals in the UK, Netherlands and Belgium,
noted the sources.
"We welcome to have LNG in addition to gas from the pipelines," they said.
The sources noted that the visit of EU Commission President Jose Manuel
Barroso to Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan later this week is to be seen in the
context of the EU's policy to diversify its energy supply sources.
Barroso will sign a Joint Declaration on the Establishment of the Southern
Corridor with President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on Thursday to secure supply of
gas from the Caspian region.
"Gas reserves in the Caspian region is more than Russia," said the sources
pointing out than Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas field in Phase II can produce
14-16 billion cubic meters of gas per year," they said.
The 'Southern Gas Corridor' has a number of projects for energy links
between Europe, the Caspian region and the Middle East.
They include the White Stream, the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the
Turkey-Greece-Italy Interconnector (ITGI) or the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania
Interconnector (AGRI) and Nabucco which the EU regards as its flagship project.
Iraq is also seen as a potential supplier of gas to Nabucco.
The 3,300 km pipeline is expected to deliver 31 billion cu m of gas from
the Caspian region to Europe via Turkey when fully operational.
Construction for the USD eight billion Nabucco project is expected to start
in 2012, and the first gas may start flowing by 2015.
Nabucco is of strategic importance for the EU to reduce its dependence on
Russia for energy supply. It is also seen as a rival to Russia's South Stream
project to deliver Russian gas to Europe.
EU sources said in 2000, nearly 50 percent of Europe's energy supplies were
coming from Russia but today, thanks to the diversification policy, it has
dropped to 40 percent.
"Diversification of gas supplies is good not only for consumer countries,
but it is also important for producer countries to have diverse clients,"
stressed the sources. (end)
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KUNA 111948 Jan 11NNNN