Without Iran’s participation in the Nabucco gas inadequate –
November 13, 2009 – 1:00 am
to gas pipeline project, Nabucco has recently joined as a shareholder of the seventh French company DF Suez, which can significantly increase the chances of implementing it at the expense of additional safeguards fill the pipeline. The desire of France to join a shareholder of the project “Nabucco”, which recently said the president GDF Suez Gerard Mestralle, now has every chance of realization.
In 2008 the company was unable to join the project because of the position of Turkey (which is a participant in the project “Nabucco”), which vetoed its entry because of differences in the recognition of the so-called “genocide” of Armenians and the position of Paris concerning Turkey’s accession to the EU. Today Turkey is one of the stakeholders in the participation of French companies in the project, as evidenced by the recent statement by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davudoglu a positive approach to Ankara’s accession GDF Suez to Nabucco.
GDF Suez is currently one of the participants in the project development and the development of promising marine structures “Absheron” in Azerbaijan, which is projected geologists, has large reserves of gas. Thus, a promising gas produced in this structure, in the future along with the gas obtained in the second stage of the Shakh-Deniz field (which is already seen as a source of gas to fill the pipeline “Nabucco”) may be one additional resource base for Nabucco.
Participants in the project are Austria’s OMV, Hungarian MOL, Bulgarian Bulgargaz, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas and German RWE. Each of the participants have equal shares – at 16.67 percent. 30 percent of the total project cost will be invested by the shareholders of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International, based on equity, the remaining 70 percent will be paid by loans. Start building the gas pipeline is scheduled for 2011, the first deliveries will begin in 2014. Maximum capacity of the pipeline will amount to 31 billion cubic meters a year.
One of the contentious points in the project has always been a question of filling the pipeline: whether enough gas for it and who can guarantee to provide real supply on it? Today, as potential suppliers of gas for the project only deals with Azerbaijan and Iraq. The question of participation of Turkmenistan is still controversial. And the door “Nabucco” to Iran, which could indeed provide the project with sufficient volumes of gas, remain closed because of disagreements with the EU and the U.S. on Tehran’s nuclear program – writes TrendAz.
