ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, March 31 (UPI) -- The Nabucco natural gas pipeline for Europe will include gas from Turkmenistan in its final plans, the deputy prime minister of Luxembourg said in Ashgabat.
Europe aims to break the Russian stranglehold on the regional energy sector through the Nabucco gas pipeline. The 2,000-mile pipeline has substantial political support, though supplier nations have been slow to make firm commitments to the project.
Jean Asselborn, the deputy prime minister of Luxembourg, told lawmakers in Ashgabat that Turkmen gas could go into Nabucco, the news agency Turkmenistan.ru reports.
"The European Union is making plans for the implementation of Nabucco project taking into account Turkmen gas," said Asselborn.
The Nabucco pipeline is designed to move 1.1 trillion cubic feet of gas per year to the European community. First gas is scheduled to flow by 2014.
Additional compressor stations would go online during project construction to push Nabucco to full gas capacity by 2018.
The planned route for the Nabucco line bypasses political sensitive territory in Ukraine, adding another layer of energy security to the project.
Europe was left in the cold for weeks in 2009 when Russia cut gas supplies to Ukraine. More than 80 percent of all Russian gas passes through Ukrainian territory on its way to Europe.
