Reinhard Mitschek: "We are confident that the Nabucco construction will start in 2013 and the first gas will flow in 2017"

“The Caspian Region and Middle East have some of the world’s largest gas reserves, which the producers are very keen to export to Europe”, said the Managing Director, Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH Reinhard Mitschek.

According to him, the construction of the Nabucco pipeline infrastructure has been aligned with the expected timetable from producers’ side: “The Shah Deniz II consortium in Azerbaijan announced in Q1 2011 that first gas would be produced for export in 2017. Nabucco is the most viable transportation route from the Caspian basin, both logistically and economically, and will certainly lead the way in developing the infrastructure of the Southern Corridor”.

He also noted that the shareholders were currently undertaking the negotiations with the gas suppliers and progress was being made.

“Therefore we are confident that the construction will start in 2013 and the first gas will flow in 2017. The Nabucco project continues to be driven by the needs of its customers”.

Remind that, Nabucco pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline from Erzurum in Turkey to Baumgarten an der March in Austria diversifying natural gas suppliers and delivery routes for Europe. The pipeline attempts to lessen European dependence on Russian energy.

The project is backed by several European Union states and the United States and is seen as rival to the Gazprom-Eni South Stream pipeline project. At the same time, there are some doubts concerning viability of supplies. The main supplier is expected to be Iraq in cooperation with Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and possibly Egypt.

Preparations for the Nabucco project started in 2002 and the intergovernmental agreement between Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria was signed on 13 July 2009.

The project is developed by the consortium of six companies. If built, the pipeline is expected to be operational by 2017 and it will carry 31 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year.


/APA/