Turkey will stand by its commitments for the Nabucco pipeline project that will transport Caspian gas to central Europe despite alternative pipeline projects, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz has said.

Russia’s South Stream and the European Union-backed Nabucco projects could delay each other but they would not obstruct their construction, Yildiz said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin won Ankara’s approval on Thursday for the South Stream gas pipeline to cross Turkish waters to Europe, countering the rival EU-sponsored plans, and signed deals to help make Turkey a key regional energy hub, according to a report in our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News.

Moscow aims to build the South Stream pipeline ahead of the European Union- supported Nabucco link from the Caspian, a scheme meant to cut Europe’s reliance on Russian gas.