Retrospective on Stephen Buryk, “The Battle for Europe’s Southern Gas Corridor: Nabucco v. South Stream” from Turkey: Bridging Two Worlds PerspecƟves on Business and Economics, Volume 28, 2010 Stephen Buryk ’10 is now in Strategy|Corporate Development at Centrica CBS. Was the author’s concluding prediction that Turkey will build the Nabucco pipeline accurate? In the arƟcle, the author, Buyrk, predicts that the Nabucco pipeline will be the one built because “It offers the Turks an undeniable opportunity to make their country of vital importance to the EU in addiƟon to securing diversified gas supplies for the development of the young, dynamic country.” However, in 2013 the Nabucco project was cancelled due to the lack of a supplier being chosen for the natural gas, the current costs not seeming like they would outweigh the future benefits, and the eventual exit of each country that supported the deal (Weiss, 2013). This gave Russia the ability to conƟnue with their planned South Stream pipeline and potenƟally steal the deal with Turkey. AddiƟonally, parƟally due to Nabucco’s failure, Turkey did not become a member of the European Union. As of July 1, 2021, The OrganizaƟon for World Peace stated that “A Turkey that is a member of the EU now seems further away than ever as only 16 out of the 35 negoƟaƟon chapters have been opened, with a single one being completed and another one closed” (Duffy, 2021). In short, the EU did not get their pipeline, and Turkey did not get its deal with Europe or its EU membership. Which pipeline plan did Turkey choose and why? As stated above, Turkey did not choose the Nabucco pipeline plan. Turkey also did not choose the South Stream pipeline proposed by Russia. In 2014, a year aŌer Nabucco was called off, President Vladimir PuƟn declared the cancellaƟon of South Stream. Some reasons for this decision include the inability to conƟnue funding the project, legal issues with the European Commission, and PuƟn’s lack of willingness to renegoƟate details of the proposiƟon. In 2015, Turkey and Azerbaijan began their own pipeline project known as the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP), which expands across all of Turkey, connecƟng Azerbaijan and Europe. “TANAP’s shareholders are Azeri state energy company SOCAR (51%), Turkish pipeline operator BOTAS (30%), and SOCAR Turkey (7%)” (Sezar et al., 2019), all of which hoped to lessen Russian gas dependence with this pipeline. As of 2019, TANAP’s construcƟon was completed, and they are currently awaiƟng the compleƟon of the Trans AdriaƟc Pipeline (TAP) in order to connect the two. References Duffy, J. A. (2021, July 1). Turkey's accession to the European Union: An overview of the current circumstances. The OrganizaƟon for World Peace. Sezar, C., Kucukgocmen, A., & Char, P. (2019, November 30). Turkey and Azerbaijan mark compleƟon of TANAP pipeline to take gas to Europe. Reuters. Weiss, C. (2013, July 13). European Union's Nabucco Pipeline Project aborted. World Socialist Web Site. RetrospecƟve by Sidney Jankanish ’23, PoliƟcal Science and InternaƟonal RelaƟons Martindale Retrospectives 3 November 2021
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