The Middle East’s chances of one day selling pipeline gas to Europe are fading as the strategic Nabucco project remains stuck in a web of political brinkmanship.
Construction of the proposed €7.9 billion (Dh38.43bn) Turkey-to-Austria link, which would provide a vital conduit for Caspian and Middle-Eastern gas to reach markets in Europe, is supposed to start in 2011, after the project partners make a final investment decision next year.
But scepticism abounds that the targets will be met due to wavering EU support for the pipeline, Turkish efforts to use it as a political bargaining chip, the shifting landscape of Central Asian relations with Russia, and long delays likely in the development of significant gas exports from Iraq and Iran.
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