Today’s Zaman: Energy policy caught between Russian, Western interests

Turkey’s agreement with Russia to allow construction of the South Stream gas pipeline and its subsequent agreement on the Trans-Anatolia Pipeline (TANAP) signed with Azerbaijan as a critical part of the Nabucco-West pipeline project have left observers preoccupied with whether Turkey will be able to maintain the balance between Russia and the West, a question that still lingers.

Although Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız, following the signing of the Turkish-Russian agreement for South Stream, stated that the agreement will not affect the realization of the Nabucco project supported by the EU, energy analysts disagree.

The Nabucco gas pipeline project envisages transporting natural gas from Caspian Basin and Middle East sources to European countries and is being revamped with the TANAP project, a gas pipeline that is going to traverse Turkey from its eastern to its western border with the initial capacity of 16 billion cubic meters a year. TANAP is an initial phase of the Nabucco project in Turkish territory ahead of Nabucco-West, a new and much smaller pipeline project proposed by the Nabucco consortium to the Shaz Deniz II consortium.   MORE