Word: nabucco
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...also had its eyes on Turkmenistan's gas as a way of lessening its dependence on Russian fuel. But a plan by several European countries to build a natural gas pipeline through southeastern Europe and Turkey has been delayed for years by wrangling over financing and the route. The Nabucco pipeline, as it's known, will eventually link up with another planned pipeline connecting Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan beneath the Caspian Sea. But, at the current pace, construction may not be completed for years. (Read: "Why Europe Can't Abandon Russian...
...Nabucco still faces some massive hurdles before it can be considered a rival to Russia's supply. For a start, there is uncertainty about which countries will actually join the pipeline. Azerbaijan is the only country currently able to supply the 15 billion cu m a year the line needs to kick off its first phase. "We don't even have a map showing us which countries will be the sources and which will be the transits," says Ana Jelenkovic, an analyst at research consultancy Eurasia Group. (Read: "Russia-Europe Gas Spat Ends...
...Turkmenistan, with the world's fourth largest reserves of natural gas, would be an ideal source for Nabucco, but it would need a pipeline under the Caspian Sea, where there is as yet no seabed agreement. At the signing ceremony on Monday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also talked of supplies from Iraq and Iran, but political tensions and security concerns make them distant prospects. Even security in Turkey is an issue: last year Kurdish separatists attacked the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, halting supplies for 19 days. (Read: "New Turkish Law Curbs Military's Power...
...million from the E.U.'s $7 billion economic-stimulus fund to jump-start the project, and the European Investment Bank has said it is prepared to finance up to a quarter of the pipeline's cost, about $3 billion. But with other private and public sources hesitating to commit, Nabucco's future is still in doubt...
...Even if Nabucco succeeds, the E.U. will face other challenges, says Tomas Valasek, director of foreign policy at the London-based Centre for European Reform. "Nabucco is only part of the puzzle to improve Europe's energy security," he says. "It also needs to reduce its overall consumption, improve its efficiency, create a fully liberalized energy market and speak as one voice when it deals with Moscow." With so much to do before the E.U. can secure its own energy future, odds are it will continue to rely on Russian gas for many years to come...