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Nabucco Pipeline Might Be Abandoned by June
Thursday, May 31st, 2012
by Asbarez
Proposed Nabucco Pipeline route
An unnamed British report stated that the European Commission-backed
project to reduce Europe's dependence on Russia for natural gas
supplies will officially fall victim to changing market conditions
before June is over.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (publics.bg) - The long-planned Nabucco natural gas
pipeline, once envisioned as stretching from Azerbaijan to Austria,
will be abandoned by the end of June, a Russian report says.
Citing unnamed London oil and gas analysts, the Itar-TASS news agency
reported the European Commission-backed project to reduce Europe's
dependence on Russia for natural gas supplies will officially fall
victim to changing market conditions before June is over.
The news agency said British experts have concluded Nabucco's backers
- which include Austria's OMV, Germany's RWE, Hungary's MOL, Turkey's
Botas, Bulgarian Energy Holding and Romania's Transgaz - will abandon
the USD10 billion effort as competitors appear to be gaining traction.
The consortium that controls Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz II gas field in
the Caspian Sea is scheduled in late June to choose between a
scaled-down version of Nabucco (dubbed Nabucco West) and the BP-backed
South East Europe Pipeline as the candidate to go up against the Trans
Adriatic Pipeline in a final decision on which will transport billions
of cubic meters of gas annually to Europe.
The Shah Deniz consortium includes BP as well as Azerbaijan's
state-owned oil company SOCAR.
The original vision for the Nabucco was for it to have a transport
capacity of 31 billion cubic meters per year but, under the Nabucco
West version, that has been scaled back to 10 billion cubic meters.
And while the first iteration was to run 2,500 miles from Azerbaijan's
Shah Deniz II gas fields through Georgia, Turkey and Eastern Europe to
Austria, the downsized pipeline would be 800 miles, starting at the
Bulgarian-Turkish border.
Comments last week from BP Chief Executive of Refining and Marketing
Iain Conn to an audience in Berlin also seemed to cast doubt on
Nabucco's viability, the EUobserver reported, as quoted by UPI.
While Conn said the choice of an Azerbaijan-European pipeline
connection would be `transparent' with `no pre-determined winner,' he
added that BP's own SEEP proposal `offers an efficient routing into
and through these strategically important markets' in southeastern
Europe, while not similarly praising Nabucco.
Publics.bg is an online media product of Public Services Ltd. The
company was founded in January 2010 with the mission to develop
knowledge in the field of energy, public services and utilities. The
team of Public Services has worked on numerous projects and products
in diverse sectors of public services.
Thursday, May 31st, 2012
by Asbarez
Proposed Nabucco Pipeline route
An unnamed British report stated that the European Commission-backed
project to reduce Europe's dependence on Russia for natural gas
supplies will officially fall victim to changing market conditions
before June is over.
SOFIA, Bulgaria (publics.bg) - The long-planned Nabucco natural gas
pipeline, once envisioned as stretching from Azerbaijan to Austria,
will be abandoned by the end of June, a Russian report says.
Citing unnamed London oil and gas analysts, the Itar-TASS news agency
reported the European Commission-backed project to reduce Europe's
dependence on Russia for natural gas supplies will officially fall
victim to changing market conditions before June is over.
The news agency said British experts have concluded Nabucco's backers
- which include Austria's OMV, Germany's RWE, Hungary's MOL, Turkey's
Botas, Bulgarian Energy Holding and Romania's Transgaz - will abandon
the USD10 billion effort as competitors appear to be gaining traction.
The consortium that controls Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz II gas field in
the Caspian Sea is scheduled in late June to choose between a
scaled-down version of Nabucco (dubbed Nabucco West) and the BP-backed
South East Europe Pipeline as the candidate to go up against the Trans
Adriatic Pipeline in a final decision on which will transport billions
of cubic meters of gas annually to Europe.
The Shah Deniz consortium includes BP as well as Azerbaijan's
state-owned oil company SOCAR.
The original vision for the Nabucco was for it to have a transport
capacity of 31 billion cubic meters per year but, under the Nabucco
West version, that has been scaled back to 10 billion cubic meters.
And while the first iteration was to run 2,500 miles from Azerbaijan's
Shah Deniz II gas fields through Georgia, Turkey and Eastern Europe to
Austria, the downsized pipeline would be 800 miles, starting at the
Bulgarian-Turkish border.
Comments last week from BP Chief Executive of Refining and Marketing
Iain Conn to an audience in Berlin also seemed to cast doubt on
Nabucco's viability, the EUobserver reported, as quoted by UPI.
While Conn said the choice of an Azerbaijan-European pipeline
connection would be `transparent' with `no pre-determined winner,' he
added that BP's own SEEP proposal `offers an efficient routing into
and through these strategically important markets' in southeastern
Europe, while not similarly praising Nabucco.
Publics.bg is an online media product of Public Services Ltd. The
company was founded in January 2010 with the mission to develop
knowledge in the field of energy, public services and utilities. The
team of Public Services has worked on numerous projects and products
in diverse sectors of public services.