BRUSSELS, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- A deal to ship compressed natural gas from Turkmenistan could be a blow to the planned South Stream and Nabucco pipelines, an energy company said.
Koen Minne, the chief executive officer at Belgium engineering company Enex, said he plans to present a deal to Ashgabat to ship compressed natural gas across the Caspian Sea and then through the existing Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline to Turkey.
Minne said in an interview with the EUobserver that if his deal goes through, it isn't likely Turkmenistan would designate its gas for Russia's South Stream project or Europe's Nabucco project.
"I don't believe Turkmenistan would sign a policy to feed South Stream or Nabucco (if the deal goes through)," he said.
The CNG deal could eventually ship as much as 125 billion cubic feet of Turkmen gas across the Caspian Sea.
Russia aims to build South Stream through southern Europe to diversify its transit options. Nabucco is Europe's answer to a Russian stranglehold on the regional energy sector.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso plans to visit Caspian states later this year to lobby for the Nabucco pipeline. Minne told the EUobserver he would support Nabucco if the project were a viable option for Turkmenistan.
"Turkmenistan is really eager to export gas to Europe and if a pipeline was a realistic option I would give it my full support," he said.
