Brussels, 08/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey have confirmed their support for the intergovernmental agreement of 2009. This was an agreement to build a gas pipeline for channelling gas from Central Asia and the Caspian Sea to the EU.
On 8 October in Vienna, Commissioner Günther Oettinger and representatives from Nabucco energy, the Austrian company, OMV, Bulgargaz from Bulgaria, MOL from Hungary, Transgaz from Romania and the Turkish Botas company, in addition to the energy ministers from five countries in which the gas pipeline will run, reaffirmed their “political support” for the legal and regulatory framework set out by the inter-governmental agreement signed in 2009. The president of the Nabucco consortium, Reinhard Mitschek explained that, “this commitment is a crucial factor for making Nabucco the most advanced project in the southern corridor, the most attractive for EU market actors and Turkey, as well as for gas suppliers and sponsors. We are therefore reducing the risks and guaranteeing solid legal protection”.
The meeting was followed by the Azeri energy minister, Natig Aliyev, who provided an insight into developments from a producer country. Nabucco is one of the projects in the running for channelling gas from the Shah Deniz gas reservoir in Azerbaijan to the EU. (EH/trans/fl)