EU delegation chief hopes Azerbaijan will be key gas supplier for Europe
BAKU. June 5 (Interfax) - Roland Kobia, the head of the EU delegation in Baku, said talks with Baku and Ashgabat about building a trans-Caspian pipeline would continue.
"Azerbaijan currently provides five per cent Europe's demand for oil," he said Wednesday at a Caspian Oil & Gas conference in Baku.
Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are the main energy resource suppliers for the European market after Russia and Norway.
Kobia said he was sure that Azerbaijan would in the future become a leading supplier of gas to Europe.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliev will visit Brussels on June 21 at the invitation of European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
"I think that meeting will serve to advance the Southern Gas Corridor issue," he said.
The Shah Deniz Consortium is in the process of making a decision on the route for transporting Azerbaijani gas, he said. Kobia said he hoped the first supplies of Azerbaijani gas to Europe via this route would begin in early 2019.
"The EU sees the Southern Gas Corridor as a multi-phase project. We believe this pipeline will be used to transport gas from other Azerbaijani deposits and have the potential to attract Turkmen and Iraqi gas. To this aim we are continuing to hold talks with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan about building a Trans-Caspian pipeline. We hope to reach an agreement on this," he said.