BRUSSELS, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- The European Union, for the first time, said it adopted a measure to negotiate a treaty with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan for a natural gas pipeline.
European officials will focus on outlining the legal agreements needed for Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan to start plans to build the Trans-Caspian pipeline system.
"Europe is now speaking with one voice," European Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger said in a statement. "The Trans-Caspian pipeline is a major project in the Southern Corridor to bring new sources of gas to Europe."
Europe noted this is the first time it proposed a treaty to support major infrastructure. A formal treaty, said Oettinger, would develop "soon."
Europe is eager to break Russia's grip on the regional energy sector. Political disputes between Ukraine and Moscow make alternative pipeline projects attractive to Europe because most of Russia's gas for EU consumers heads through Ukrainian pipelines.
Reinhard Mitschek, managing director of the Nabucco gas pipeline consortium, welcomed the decision by the EU to reach out to Caspian gas suppliers.
He said that although Nabucco won't depend on the Trans-Caspian system, it highlights the "big potential" for gas exports from the Caspian region.
EU members get 80 percent of their oil and more than 60 percent of their natural gas through imports and those numbers continue to rise.
Oettinger last week outlined plans to negotiate energy agreements with third countries at the EU level.
