BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 21 (UPI) -- Azerbaijan will not ask Turkmenistan to play a role in the Nabucco pipeline project or in gas transports through the country, an Azeri official said Friday.
"We will not offer, put pressure or invite Turkmenistan to participate in the Nabucco project. We will not do it," Azeri Minister of Industry and Energy Natig Aliyev said.
The minister suggested Baku may impose some level of punitive sanctions on Turkmenistan if it makes an independent move to transport its natural resources through Azerbaijan, the Trend Capital News Agency said.
Instead, gas transports from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan should go through the planned Trans-Caspian natural gas pipeline that is intended to carry natural gas from the region to markets in Central Europe, bypassing Iran and Russia, the report said.
