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Reinhard Mitschek: Nabucco deal to be signed soon

04 June 2009 10:36 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov â€“ APA-Economics. The Nabucco gas pipeline consortium expects a document to be signed soon for the progress of the project, the consortium’s head said on Thursday.

The planned 3,300-kilometre (2,051-mile) pipeline needs an agreement between the governments whose countries the pipeline will cross.

Besides, there is a need to secure commitment from potential gas supplies who expressed tentative consent to fill the pipeline.

â€œWe have support from countries. Work is under way. We are identifying the sources of gas to fill the pipeline. The final document is due in a few weeks,â€ consortium Managing Director Reinhard Mitschek said at the 16th International Caspian Oil and Gas Conference in Baku.

Earlier, he had announced that an intergovernmental agreement on the project might be signed by the end of June.

The Nabucco project -- designed to pump gas from the Caspian region via Turkey and the Balkans to Austria through 3,300 km (2,051 miles) of pipelines -- aims to diversify gas supplies to Europe by reducing dependence on Russian gas.

Mitschek said international financial institutions take interest and offer support for the Nabucco Project.

â€œJapanese and American investors also show interest. The project will be 25% financed by international financial institutions. The issues related to funding will be settled early next year,â€ he added.

The project can be launched as â€œthere are gas consumers in Europe and the demand for gas to be transported is ensuredâ€, he added.
The project case has been strengthened by the gas price row between Russia and transit country Ukraine in January, which left over a dozen European countries without gas for two weeks.
However, funding, sourcing of natural gas and lack of agreement between the Nabucco consortium members have plagued the project.
Nabucco’s shareholders are Austria’s OMV, Hungary’s MOL, Romania’s Transgaz , Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz, Turkey’s Botas and Germany’s RWE
Named after the Babylonian king in the eponymous opera by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi, the pipeline will take 31 billion cubic meters of gas each year from the Middle East to Europe from 2013-2014 at the earliest.