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Reinhard Mitschek: Comparing with TAP project, Nabucco West has several advantages

29 June 2012 12:52 (UTC +04:00)

He welcomed the decision of Shah Deniz consortium about the choice of Nabucco West as a possible route for the delivery of energy to Europe. Mitschek reminded that Nabucco consortium presented all proposals for Nabucco West in mid-May.

â€˜Nabucco West has the most reliable and stable framework, so we see clear advantage of Nabucco West comparing with TAP. We have managed legal framework of Nabucco project with Romania, Bulgaria, Austria, it also has European commissionâ€™s support. Moreover, Nabucco West can transport gas not only 1 financial market, but to all Europeâ€™, noted Mitschek.

As for the cost of Nabucco West, he said that the consortium analyzes the investment cost of the project, and only after the completion of this evaluation, it will be possible to judge its value.

Note that, the Shah Deniz (SD) field was discovered in 1999. It is one of the worldâ€™s largest gas-condensate fields, with over 30 trillion cubic feet - 1 trillion cubic metres - of gas in place. It is located on the deep water shelf of the Caspian Sea, 70 km south-east of Baku, in water depths ranging from 50 to 500 m. BP operates Shah Deniz on behalf of its partners in the Shah Deniz Production Sharing Agreement. Plans for the estimated $25 billion project include two new bridge linked offshore platforms. Shah Deniz has also been working to assess the options that will deliver gas from Turkey onwards to Europe. During the evaluation process the Shah Deniz Export Negotiating Team (ENT), led by SOCAR and including BP, Statoil and Total, LUKoil, Naftiran Intertrade Co., TPAO.

Remind that, gas sales and transit agreements were signed in October 2011 with BOTAS, the Turkish pipeline company, and the Turkish Government, â€“ all within an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) signed by the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Turkey. Since that date, agreements have been signed to allow the Trans Anatolia Pipeline to commence engineering studies for potential gas transportation across Turkey. Three options are being considered to carry gas into Europe: the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) with a route to Italy; Nabucco West taking gas from Turkish-European border through Eastern Europe to the West and the South East Europe Pipeline (SEEP) taking gas through Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. The Shah Deniz consortium will make a final route selection in 2013.