Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, July 4 -- Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, eyeing competition from Russia for Central Asian natural gas, said his visit to the region next week will focus on winning alternative gas supplies for Europe and the planned Nabucco pipeline in particular.

"The European and the Hungarian energy policy objectives are identical in this respect—to secure supplies from diverse resources and on varied routes," Gyurcsany said. He is set to travel to Azerbaijan on July 7 and Turkmenistan on July 8.

"The most important goal is to see clearly whether the agreement between Russia and Turkmenistan still permits other, independent agreements," he said.

The talks should also shed light on "whether sufficient amounts of gas would be available for the Nabucco pipeline so we could accelerate the construction of the pipeline," Gyurcsany said.

Gyurcsany's remarks came ahead of a July 4-5 visit to Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, former head of OAO Gazprom. Indeed, according to Jonathan Stern, director of gas research at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, Medvedev's visit comes at a crucial moment for Europe.