"The on-going negotiation on the legal status of the Caspian has not precluded the construction and operation of oil and gas pipelines"

“The on-going negotiation on the legal status of the Caspian has not precluded the construction and operation of oil and gas pipelines”, Charge d’Affaires of the EU Delegation to Azerbaijan Jerome Pons said in his interview.

“Pipelines have been built over borders that certainly exist but are not agreed upon. This has happened often and in the European Union, the North Sea for instance has encountered these types of problems. It did not stop development. In the Caspian Sea, the on-going negotiation between the littoral states over the last years on the legal status of the Caspian has in fact not precluded the construction and operation of oil and gas pipelines”, Pons said.

“The negotiations will start soon, however the exact timing has not been determined yet”, Pons said and added: “All matters pertaining to the realization of the project will be covered such as commissioning, building, and operation of the trans-Caspian pipeline itself, and the legal framework that will apply to filling the pipeline with gas from Turkmenistan, including an appropriate recognition of commercial arrangements”.

EU Council adopted of a mandate to authorize the European Commission to negotiate an agreement for the legal framework with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan for a Trans-Caspian gas pipeline system.

“New gas reserves are excellent news for Azerbaijan, as the producer, and for the EU, as the potential consumer. Increasing volume of gas will be available to the European markets”, he said.

Commenting on the news about Total’s discovering new gas reserves in Azerbaijan, the diplomat said: “The EU will require more and more gas in the coming years notably to meet the EU commitment on climate change and environment and reduce emissions of Co2 globally”.


/APA/