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Head of the Russian Gas Society: Nabucco gas pipeline project has outdated

20 November 2012 14:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku – APA-Economics. Nabucco gas pipeline project has outdated and does not have sufficient financial and resource base, Head of the Russian Gas Society Valery Yazov said, APA reports.

He noted that the Nabucco gas pipeline project was one of the project of the Southern Gas Corridor, which will deliver gas from the Caspian region and the Middle East to the EU: ‘Due to unresolved issue of the legal status of the Caspian Sea, Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, which will connect Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, is one of the weakest links in Nabucco pipeline’.

Note that, the Nabucco pipeline (also referred to as the Turkey–Austria gas pipeline) is a proposed natural gas pipeline from Erzurum in Turkey to Baumgarten an der March in Austria. The aim of the Nabucco pipeline is to diversify the natural gas suppliers and delivery routes for Europe, thus reducing European dependence on Russian energy. The project is backed by several European Union member states and by the United States, and is seen as a rival to the Gazprom-Eni South Stream pipeline project. At the same time, there are some doubts concerning the viability of supplies. The main supplier is expected to be Iraq, with potential supplies from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Egypt. Preparations for the Nabucco project started in 2002 and the intergovernmental agreement between Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria was signed on 13 July 2009. The project is being developed by a consortium of six companies. If built, the pipeline is expected to be operational by 2017. Crucial for the feasibility of the project are decisions of the Shah Deniz gas field development consortium, as the initial volumes of natural gas are to be supplied from that source. After an announcement for the construction of the competing Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP), the consortium has submitted a modified project called Nabucco-West, which does not include the Turkish section of the pipeline and should connect to TANAP.

As of 2012, some analysts declare Nabucco is unlikely to be built due to changed political situation and competing projects. The final investment decision by the Nabucco consortium is expected in 2012.

The name Nabucco comes from the same famous opera of Giuseppe Verdi,that the five partners had listened to at the Vienna State Opera after this meeting.