Turkey says Nabucco gas pact to be signed July 13

posted: 125 DAYS 20 HOURS AGO

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ANKARA, Turkey -Turkey said Monday it had reached a deal with several European countries over the terms of the proposed Nabucco pipeline meant to supply Europe with gas, and that they would sign an intergovernmental agreement in Ankara on July 13.

Turkey has been negotiating gas transit fees and other issues with Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria, with the participation of Germany, since January.

"An agreement has been reached during last month's meeting," a Foreign Ministry statement said, without elaborating.

Details of the deal were not available. U.S. energy officials had said that Turkey could drop a demand to use 15 percent of the gas to be transmitted for domestic consumption.

Meanwhile, Germany's RWE AG said Monday that it and Austria's OMV Gas & Power have appointed former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer as a "political communications advisor" for Nabucco.

Fischer "will use his long-standing experience in foreign affairs and energy policy to gain stronger political support for the project and coordinate corresponding initiatives," the company statement said.

Fischer was foreign minister from 1998 to 2005 under Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder — who now chairs a joint Russian-German gas consortium building a pipeline under the Baltic Sea.

The United States strongly supports Nabucco — which is to link the Caspian Sea region, Mideast and Egypt to the European Union via Turkey. Nabucco is designed to reduce EU dependence on Russian natural gas, but the project has yet to secure suppliers to make it viable.

Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz, returning from Moscow last week, said Turkey was waiting for a response from Azerbaijan on a Turkish proposal to supply gas to the project.

Russia clinched a major new natural gas deal with Azerbaijan in late June, striking a blow to Nabucco.

2009-07-06 11:54:13