NATO: Azerbaijan becoming important component of global energy security

Azerbaijan is going to be an important component of global energy security market place, said William Lahue, the NATO Liaison Officer in the South Caucasus.

“It is important that countries have multiple sources of supply in order to protect themselves from fluctuations in available sources of supply,” he told Trend in Kvareli, Georgia. “In this process Azerbaijan is going to be important, and its importance is growing.”

In the future, Azerbaijan is potentially going to be a transit country for gas coming from western Caspian Sea region such as Turkmenistan, according to Lahue.

Furthermore, he talked about the Trans-Caspian Pipeline project that envisages supply of Turkmen gas to Europe through Azerbaijan’s territory.

“Technically, it is possible to build Trans-Caspian Pipeline as I was told by businessmen from different countries,” said Lahue, adding that the politics is lining up the way that it is eventually going to happen.

However, he added that this project is not NATO's business. “This is a relationship between sovereign countries and commercial organizations.”

“What NATO will be able to do is to pull partners looking for protection of critical energy infrastructure and in that way, we can help facilitate trainings, education for the national organizations working in this sphere for protection of infrastructure,” said Lahue.

But NATO is an institution which is not involved in this type of business, he said, adding that it is a business of sovereign countries.

The Trans-Caspian Pipeline project is regarded as the best option for delivering Turkmen resources to European market. The project envisages laying a gas pipeline under the Caspian Sea to the shores of Azerbaijan. Further, Turkmen gas can be transported to Turkey which borders with European countries.

The project may be implemented as a part of the Southern Gas Corridor project designed to transport gas from the Caspian Sea region to European countries.