EU Energy Commissioner Oettinger 'Wants Pipeline Outside EU'

The European Union wants a dedicated pipeline to deliver natural gas from outside the eurozone, the EU energy commissioner has affirmed.

Europe aims to secure more natural gas from non-Russian suppliers as  protection against geopolitical concerns over the role of Russian state company Gazprom in Eastern Europe. 

European Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger told the Trend news service that European consumers want an uninterrupted supply of natural gas from alternative suppliers.

"The aim of the commission has always been to open the Southern Corridor for the EU in order to directly and physically link the EU gas market to the largest deposits of gas in the world in the Caspian Sea basin and the Middle East," he said.

The Commissioner recently welcomed an agreement between the governments of Italy, Albania and Greece to build the Trans-Adriatic pipeline (TAP), as a possible component of the Southern Gas corridor linking the EU to the Caspian region.

The Southern Corridor is a network that includes the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline and Nabucco-West.