BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- The gas potential from Azerbaijan makes it likely to be a major supplier to the planned Nabucco pipeline to Europe, a top U.S. diplomat said.
"Azerbaijan can become a source of supply for Nabucco," U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan Richard Hoagland told Trend News Agency.
Hoagland said Nabucco is a top priority for the United States and its European partners in the wake of the January row between Russia and Ukraine that disrupted gas supplies for weeks.
"As a consequence, the European Commission voted in favor of allocating $250 million in the proposed project Nabucco," he said.
The EU in 2008 moved on the Energy Security and Solidarity Action Plan that considers ways to address supply concerns and ways to move away from Russian dependency on natural gas.
The planned 2,051-mile Nabucco would link Caspian and Middle Eastern suppliers to European markets.
