Doris Leblond
OGJ Correspondent
PARIS, Sept. 20 -- To forward energy supply security in the European Union, a high-level conference was held in Budapest Sept. 13 to discuss the proposed 3,300-km strategic Nabucco gas pipeline. The €5 billion pipeline has been proposed to deliver gas to Europe from a variety of sources including Iran, the Middle East, Turkey, Russia, and the Caspian region by 2012 (OGJ Online, July 23, 2007). Construction is expected to start in 2009.
At the meeting, attended by ministers from Hungary, Austria, Bulgaria, Italy, and Turkey; and representatives of industry, international financial institutions, and the specialized press, EU Energy Commissioner Andris Pielbalgs asked newly appointed Nabucco project coordinator Jozias Van Aarsten "to take an active role in developing the route" of the pipeline.
Van Aarsten was asked to look at coordination in the countries that will host the pipeline and evaluate additional and urgent political and regulatory actions needed "to elaborate a plan to tackle them."
Led by Austria's OMV, the pipeline's partners include MOL of Hungary, Botas of Turkey, Bulgargaz of Bulgaria, and Transgas of Romania, each company holding a 20% share. Gaz de France's Chief Operating Officer Jean-Marie Daugier said Gaz de France also is in line to join the Nabucco project.
Gazprom is planning a rival gas pipeline, South Stream, which would extend from southern Russia to southern Italy. Nabucco would offer an alternative to the EU's dependence on Russian gas and its Russian-controlled routes and would challenge Russia's control over Caspian gas exports to Europe.
However, 50% of Nabucco's proposed 30 billion cu m/year capacity is available to any gas source along its route from Ankara, Turkey, to Baumgarten, Austria, an EU official involved in the project told OGJ. And legally that could open Nabucco to Iranian gas, which the US would oppose. This possibility was discussed at the Gas Congress in Paris Sept. 11-13, sponsored by Association Francaise du Gaz.
Daugier pointed out that, although the US favors gas routes in Europe that would bypass Russia's predominant supply systems, it would not condone Iranian participation in Nabucco, "thus creating a serious political problem," he warned.
