Turkmenistan: European Officials Negotiating with Ashgabat on Nabucco

Intensive negotiations to secure Turkmen natural gas supplies for the proposed Nabucco pipeline are ongoing, a Western diplomat tells the Russian news agency Itar-Tass.

If successful a deal could be signed in April, the source claimed. "Talks between Brussels and Ashgabat are conducted behind closed doors, the chances of their success is great," the news agency quoted the unnamed diplomat as saying on February 26.

Construction of the 3,300-kilometer-long Nabucco route is due to begin in 2011 and take roughly three years to complete. It will have an estimated export capacity of 14 billion cubic at the outset. By 2020, it is projected to carry 31 bcm of gas annually from the Caspian Basin to Europe via Turkey.

To date, only Azerbaijan has made a firm commitment to fill Nabucco with gas. According to Itar-Tass, experts describe a Turkmen gas contribution as a "matter of life or death" for the project.