February 25, 2010
Nabucco Best Option For Europe, IEA Says
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
The Nabucco natural gas pipeline provides better energy security than Russia's South Stream project, the International Energy Agency chief said in Hungary.
Europe scrambled to add diversity to its regional energy sector following a disruptive gas row between Moscow and Kiev in January 2009. Europe gets roughly 20 percent of its gas from Russia, though 80 percent of that travels through Soviet-era pipelines in Ukraine.
Nobuo Tanaka, the executive director of the IEA, said that although South Stream is shorter and less expensive, it would still carry Russian gas, the official Sofia News Agency reports.
"If supply sources are expanded and the number of delivery routes grows, security improves," he said. "That is why Nabucco appears to be the best solution."
South Stream would carry Russian gas to Europe through the Balkans. Nabucco, meanwhile, would move gas from Central Asia and the Middle East along a route through Turkey and southern Europe.
Tanaka said "the more the better" applied to energy security matters, saying Nabucco was the more diverse option for Europe.
Commitments from supplier nations for Nabucco are slow to develop, leaving some to question the long-term viability of the project. Construction on Nabucco begins in 2011 with completion expected by 2014.
(EUNewsNet.com and OfficialWire)
