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Nabucco Shareholders May Use 50% Of Pipeline’s Capacity

Shareholders of the Nabucco gas pipeline consortium will be allowed to use 50% of the pipe’s capacity, while the rest will be used by companies transporting natural gas to Europe, according to the intergovernmental agreement signed Monday in Ankara, Turkey.
Nabucco Shareholders May Use 50% Of Pipeline’s Capacity
13 iul. 2009, 15:48, English

The Prime Ministers of Romania, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey signed Monday in Ankara the intergovernmental accord for the Nabucco project. Germany does not participate in the agreement, but supports the project.

The project is developed by Nabucco Gas Pipeline International, formed by Austria’s OMV, Hungary’s MOL, Romania’s Transgaz (TGN.RO), Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz, Turkey’s Botas and Germany’s RWE.

According to the latest data, Nabucco will require total investments worth EUR8 billion, while its construction will start in 2011 and is scheduled to be completed in 2014.

The initial tranport capacity was set at 8 billion cubic meters per year, but the pipe’s capacity is projected to reach 31 billion cubic meters per year by 2020.

Nabucco will supply natural gas from the Caspian Sea to Central Europe via Turkey and Romania, bypassing Russia. The project is endorsed by the European Union and the USA.

The agreement signing is one of the last steps before starting the procedures to attract finance and start project construction works.

The next stages of the project include the completion of partnerships, like the Agreement for the Project’s Support, which includes the detailed technical planning, as well as evaluations on the social and environment impact. At the same time, Nabucco consortium will start negotiations with the banks and will track the buying of transport capacities in the process of reserving capacities.