ISTANBUL, Turkey, June 7 (UPI) -- A natural gas deal signed between Turkey and Azerbaijan is a positive development for the Nabucco gas pipeline for Europe, directors said Monday.
Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz signed a gas deal Monday in Istanbul with his Azeri counterpart Natiq Aliyev for 388 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The gas will be shipped from the second phase of the giant Shah Deniz field by 2017, Turkey's news agency Today's Zaman reports.
A bilateral deal between Turkey and Azerbaijan was seen as a key development to the Nabucco pipeline for Europe.
The Nabucco consortium hailed the agreement, saying it would go a long way toward bringing energy security to Europe.
"This is a step ahead in the right direction," Nabucco Managing Director Reinhard Mitschek said in a Monday statement.
The proposed 2,500-mile pipeline will run from Azerbaijan to Austria via Turkey and would carry 1.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas per year to Europe.
Energy analysts predict that Europe could face natural gas shortages as early as 2015. Nabucco is expected to start gas deliveries in 2014.
