The Greek and Turkish prime ministers opened the new pipeline in a high-profile event. The project is seen as helping to diversify European energy supplies and boosting the region’s presence on Europe’s energy map. Karamanlis repeated Greece’s support for Turkey’s bid to join the European Union and said the pipeline would improve stability in the region.
Old rivals Greece and Turkey team up on natural gas pipeline
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Commercial ties between the two nations in the last few years have improved considerably, with cross-border deals becoming larger and more frequent. According to industry data, Turkish exports to Greece more than doubled between 2000 and 2006 to reach 1.3 billion euros — a rise from 1.18 to 2.62 percent of Greece's total imports. Greek businesses on the other hand have been expanding into Turkey as a means of tapping the country's strong growth prospects while putting aside political concerns. In the biggest foreign investment made by a Greek bank, National Bank, Greece's largest lender, has purchased a majority stake in Turkey's Finansbank for more than 2 billion euros. After the inauguration of the natural gas pipeline, it was announced that Karamanlis will make an official visit to Turkey early next year, a trip originally slated for 2005 that would be the first of its kind in nearly 50 years. ANA
reece and Turkey inaugurated a pipeline transporting natural gas from the Caspian Sea area to the continent in a move seen bringing the two rivals closer together and boosting the region's presence on Europe's energy map. The opening of the natural gas project comes at a time when steps also appear to have been made on the Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline and Greece is laying the groundwork to have a second natural gas network passing through its territory. The opening of the Greek-Turkish connection involved a high-profile ceremony in which Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan shook hands at a symbolic meeting on a bridge over the Evros River. ‘It is a great step forward for relations between the two countries and for stability in the region. By cooperating we can build a better future for all,’ Karamanlis said. ‘This pipeline is the first in a series of important energy pipelines which are transforming Greece into an international energy hub,’ he added. The pipeline will provide the European Union with its first supply of gas from the Caspian region, bypassing Russia and the volatile Middle East. It will carry up to 400,000 cubic meters of Azeri gas this year to help cover increased demand in Greece's recently liberalized electricity market. This will rise gradually to 115 billion cubic meters annually after a planned extension to southern Italy is completed in 2012. Greece will take up 3.5 billion cubic meters annually, with the remainder going to Italy. Greece's Public Gas Corporation (DEPA) has signed a 600-million-euro deal with Italy's Edison Group to build the extension beneath the Adriatic Sea. The project is expected to help boost Greece's position on the European energy map and act as a deterrent for any future crisis with Turkey. Karamanlis repeated Greece's support for Turkey's bid to join the European Union and said the pipeline would improve stability in the region. ‘The pipeline adds energy not only for development but also to strengthen Greek-Turkish ties. It acts beneficially for ties between us. It transforms the two countries into a transport hub toward Central Europe,’ the Greek prime minister added. Greece and Turkey, still divided over territorial disputes in the Aegean Sea and Cyprus, agreed in 2004 to build the 285-kilometer natural gas pipeline between Karacabey in northern Turkey and Komotini in Greece.
Foreign support The EU supports the project as it looks to diversify its energy suppliers and reduce its dependence on Russia, from where it buys about a quarter of its gas. The US is also promoting the energy-rich Caspian nation as an alternative gas supplier for Europe following the recent commissioning of the south Caucasus pipeline to Georgia and Turkey, which will eventually carry 20 billion cubic meters annually. Political commentators said it is no coincidence the opening ceremony was attended by US Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman and the new US ambassador in Athens, Daniel Speckhard, in his first public engagement since arriving in Greece. Bodman described the new energy supply link as a ‘significant development, one that builds a critical new energy bridge between the East and West.’ ‘This project is remarkable in many ways, not least of which is the technical and financial complexity involved in its construction,’ said the US energy secretary. ‘Building this pipeline also required a regional consensus, complex environmental analyses, and a lengthy and productive dialogue with all of the communities along the entire route,’ he added. Bodman described the pipeline as a ‘critical first step in a new energy supply chain; and it comes on line at a critically important time. The European Union is the world's biggest gas import market — and one of the world's fastest growing. It is reasonable to expect that Europe's dependence on energy imports will continue to grow over the next 25 years
By Stelios Bouras 9