EURODIALOGUE
Journal of International Relations, European, Economic and Social Studies
MAP-5: Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy
D. Prospective pipelines Apart from the above mentioned and existing pipelines there other pipelines at various stages of construction. Some of them are at the preparatory stage; some others are still only at the conceptual stage. 1. Gas Pipeline This project is at the progam stage: an intergovernmental agreement was signed in 2009 in Ankara. The project is called Nabucco, because the idea of constructing this pipeline was first discussed after the initiators watched Verdi’s Nabucco Opera at the Vienna Opera House. The pipeline will cross five countries—Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria (Map-6). It will start from the Eastern provinces of Turkey because the major part of the gas will have to come from Azerbaijan and Iran. It will have a total length of 3,300 km, 2,000 km of which will be in Turkey. It will have a carrying capacity of 31 billion cubic meters of gas per year. The gas that will be carried is not yet secured. Azerbaijan has promised to provide gas from its reserves along the coasts of the Caspian Sea; however, the capacity of the reserves in that area is not sufficient to fill the pipeline completely. Therefore other sources are required. Iran could be one of the alternative sources. However the restriction imposed on Iran, not to invest more than 20 million dollars in this country, limits ability of the initiators. Other sources that may substitute for Iran are Turkmenistan if the question of crossing the Caspian Sea is solved, Iraq, or Qatar. Russia plans to construct an additional pipeline, South Stream, that will carry gas through a pipeline laid across the Black Sea from Dzhubga on the Eastern Black Sea coast of Russia to the Bulgarian coastal city of Varna. Some observers see it as a rival to Nabucco. However, this observation does not Turkey on the European doorstep
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