In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that Azerbaijan might participate in the Nabucoo project if “we are offered a good price and a serious approach.”

Presently, the project experiences significant financial difficulties with obtaining credits. However, according to Aliyev, “political statements damage the process. We do not want to find ourselves in the middle of a battle between various forces that cannot agree” He reckons that project initiators should take more serious actions to compete with Russian OAO Gazprom.

Thus, Azerbaijani President wonders who will move the process forward, negotiate with gas producers and transiters, saying there are still too many questions without answers.

“The total amount necessary for about 3.000 km main construction is estimated at $11.8bn. Consortium intends to turn to international organizations and agencies for raising the loans,” Nabucco Gas Pipeline GmbH Managing Director Reinhard Mitschek said yesterday at the briefing in Budapest. Germany, France and Italy are also among those European countries skeptical about rationality of Nabucoo project.

A.G.