The recent gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine over gas prices and a new contract on natural gas supplies affected around 20 European countries, and has prompted the European Union to intensify talks on the construction of an alternative gas supply route to Europe.
The $10 billion Nabucco pipeline, backed by the European Union and the U.S., is expected to link energy-rich Central Asia to Europe through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria, bypassing Russia and Ukraine. Construction has been tentatively scheduled to begin in 2010.
High-placed representatives of the European Union, Caspian Sea region gas producing countries and gas transit states are expected to attend the summit, the source said.
Russia suspended supplies to Ukraine on January 1 after the former Soviet neighbors failed to reach an agreement on a new gas contract for 2009. A week later, Gazprom cut off gas deliveries to the European Union, saying Ukraine was stealing gas intended for EU consumers.
A deal to resume supplies was eventually reached early on Sunday in Moscow and gas started flowing into Europe on Tuesday.
However, experts say that the Nabucco gas pipeline could run into difficulties, if Turkmenistan, a major natural gas producer in Central Asia, refuses to support the project.
An international conference on the Nabucco and southern energy corridor projects will be held in Prague on May 7, EU Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner said after a meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov.
The South Caucasus energy corridor project involves transporting natural gas from energy-rich Azerbaijan to Europe along a pipeline linking Azerbaijan, Turkey, Greece and Italy. The pipeline, due to be commissioned in 2013, is expected to pump 12 billion cubic metes of gas annually, of which 3.6 billion cu m will flow into Greece and 8.4 billion cu m into Italy.
