The Turkish route relies on the long-planned Nabucco pipeline, which is making very slow progress towards construction.
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Continued American support for the Nabucco pipeline in the interest of European energy diversity, then, is absolutely critical.
Bulgaria is also involved in two rival gas pipeline projects: Russia's South Stream pipeline and the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline.
The Europeans have long discussed their desire to include Turkmenistan in ambitious projects like the Nabucco pipeline or Trans-Caspian.
The Nabucco pipeline was supposed to bypass both Iran and Russia and increase instead gas exports from the former Soviet republics to Europe.
The rivalry between this and Europe's alternative plan - the Nabucco pipeline - is one of the most intense in the Caspian Sea region.
The Europeans, who want to break free from their growing dependence on Russian energy supplies, desperately need supplies from the region to make the Nabucco pipeline viable.
One important new route is the Nabucco pipeline which aims to connect Europe with gasfields in the Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia via the Balkans and Turkey.
During the debate on 20 January 2011 MEPs debated issues including economic growth and energy issues, such as the proposed Nabucco pipeline to bring gas from Turkey to Austria.
January's gas supply hiatus between Russia and Ukraine makes it more likely that the EU-sponsored Nabucco pipeline will be built, though it will be 2015 at the earliest before it enters service.
It has opened major gas pipelines to China and Iran, and is considering taking part in the Nabucco pipeline - an EU-backed project designed to provide an alternative to Russian gas supplies to Europe.
Mr Davutoglu points proudly to the recent signing of an agreement between Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria on the Nabucco pipeline that is meant to carry gas through these countries, reducing Europe's dependence on Russia.
The "new Europeans" from the east are pushing the EU to get serious about developing new sources of energy -- starting with the stalled Nabucco pipeline that would cross Turkey and the Balkans, routing Central Asian gas around Russia.
Even more significantly, Ankara gave a green light to Iranian gas exports to Europe through the Nabucco gas pipeline which runs from Turkey to Austria.
There is new interest in Nabucco, a pipeline to bring gas from Central Asia and the Caspian to Europe via Turkey.
The third plan is Nabucco, an ambitious pipeline to connect Caspian and Iraqi gasfields to Europe via Turkey.
Still, Russia sees the EU as a competitor in its sphere of influence and reacts fiercely to any interference, such as Belarus being told that recognising South Ossetia and Abkhazia would hurt its prospects with the EU. That the summit was followed by a conference on Nabucco, a gas pipeline meant to bypass Russia in the south, was just another irritation.
Nabucco, a trans-Balkan pipeline which aims to bring Middle Eastern and Central Asian gas to Europe via Turkey's excellent gas infrastructure, will be at the heart of the power struggle.
If an agreeable-seeming Gazprom, along with increased bullishness about LNG and shale gas, were to dampen European enthusiasm for Nabucco, a long-planned pipeline which might bring 30bcm of gas a year to Europe from the Caspian and the Middle East, that would suit Russia pretty well.
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In 2007 Nabucco will be forced to accept Russian involvement, including a hook-up to the underused Blue Stream pipeline that links Russia and Turkey.
But while Nabucco could supply Europe with gas from Azerbaijan, it would not help Turkmenistan, which would also need a pipeline under the Caspian if it is to bypass Russia and Iran.
If SOCAR acquires the Greek company, expect the breaks to be put on any TAP ambitions, particularly as it would be very easy to resurrect the ITGI (Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy) pipeline plans, previously spearheaded by DEPA. Far more importantly, Azerbaijan also knows that for the Nabucco consortium to stand any chance of winning, it needs fresh funding in place, and the strategic involvement of a Shah Deniz II player.
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