Industry and Energy

Industry and Energy

Russian deputy PM: â€œNabucco project has no perspective at allâ€

22 October 2010 14:00 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Lachin Sultanova â€“ APA-Economics. Nabucco project has no perspective at all, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin told journalists.

â€œWe can say taking the evaluations of Turkmenistan side and European and world experts into accounts Nabucco has no perspective at all. The current situation at gas market proves this.

According to him there is no need realization of Nabucco deal with lack of the perspective for increasing of gas transportation. Nord Stream will be launched and South Stream will be developed until its realization.

Note that, Nabucco is the new gas bridge from Asia to Europe and the flagship project in the Southern Corridor. It will be a pipeline to connect the worldâ€™s richest gas regions - the Caspian region, Middle East and Egypt - to the European consumer markets.

The pipeline will link the Eastern border of Turkey, to Baumgarten in Austria - one of the most important gas turntables in Central Europe - via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. When completed the 3,300 km pipelineâ€™s annual capacity will be 31 bcm. The construction of the pipeline is supported by the 2009 Intergovernmental Agreement signed in Ankara in July 2009, which harmonises the legal framework and grants stable and equal transport conditions for all partners and customers.

It is widely acknowledged that Central and Western Europe will face a considerable shortfall in its energy supply over the next two decades, with gas prices expected to increase as domestic production declines. Consequently, it is crucial that new infrastructure be established to meet further demand and ensure both security of supply and supply diversification.

The main pipeline will be built in one phase from Ankara to Baumgarten. Construction will start in 2012, with the first gas flowing in 2015.