Romania To Guarantee Transgaz’s EUR417M Contribution To Nabucco

Romania's government approved a draft law ratifying the agreement signed in July between Romania, Austria, Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria regarding the construction of the Nabucco pipeline.

The draft law was sent to parliament for urgency debates, caretaker Premier Emil Boc said.

The Nabucco pipeline, whose construction is estimated at around EUR8 billion, is scheduled to deliver approximately 31 billion cubic meters of gas annually from the Caspian Sea to Central Europe via Turkey and Romania, bypassing Russia.

About 70% of the investment will be financed with loans taken from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank, while the rest will be covered from the shareholders' own sources.

Nabucco's shareholders are Austrian oil group OMV, Romania's Transgaz, German RWE, Hungary's MOL, Bulgargaz of Bulgaria and Turkey's Botas.

Nabucco is expected to help European countries break free from Russian influence in the natural gas sector. The project is due for completion in 2014 or 2015.

According to Romanian interim Finance Minister Adriean Videanu, the agreement with Nabucco's other shareholders must be ratified as soon as possible, because Romania has already started talks with Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan to reserve gas capabilities.

"The lawful ratification of this project is a priority, because we already started proceedings to reserve capabilities in countries such as Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, which are open to talks. Our delegations have already made the first steps regarding the issue," Videanu said.

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