Oettinger: Commercial Actors Should Decide Southern Corridor Route

EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger has expressed concern that the impending decision on the preferred route for the delivery of Caspian natural gas to Europe may become a divisive distraction amongst member states.

The Nabucco West and Trans Adriatic Pipeline consortiums are vying to win the contest to move gas westward from the second phase of Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz project.

Reuters reports that in a letter to EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton, Oettinger said that commercial actors should be the ones to decide upon the merits of the projects, expressing fears that the activities of political actors could lead to "a needless split in European solidarity".

EU foreign ministers meet on Monday to discuss matters including energy security and the Southern Corridor against the background of Russian moves to protect its position as the leading gas supplier to Europe.

Recently, Gazprom announced plans for third and fourth strings of the Nord Stream pipeline, including the potential expansion of the pipeline to Britain,

Gazprom is also condering a second line for the Yamal pipeline in order to increase the transmission capacity to supply Russian gas to Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.  The news of a memorandum of understanding signed between the Russian company and EuRoPol Gas to undertake a feasibility study of the Yamal 2 project, caused quite a stir in Poland, apparently catching government off guard.