Brussels, 23/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - Following its rival, Nabucco, the consortium heading the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline project is also proposing to sell 50% of its shares to the Shad Deniz consortium, responsible for managing gas field operations in Azerbaijan, over which Europe has cast envious eyes.
On 18 January, the Nabucco consortium signed an agreement with the Shah Deniz consortium, which paves the way for the latter to have up to a 50% share in the EU-supported gas pipeline project. The head of the Nabucco consortium, Reinhard Mitschek, immediately welcomed this development as “a giant step towards completing the Nabucco project”. The European project is a competitor of the Russian South Stream gas pipeline project, participants in which include the Austrian OMV group, BEH from Bulgaria, the Hungarian company, MOL, Botas from Turkey, Transgaz from Romania and the German RWE group (which may sell its shares to OMV). Up until now, it had been unable to find a partner that was able to supply it with natural gas. Nabucco and Shah Deniz, which includes the British BP group (25%), the French company, Total (10%) and Statoil from Norway (10%), reached an agreement in principle on 10 January to collectively cover the West-Nabucco gas pipeline development costs until a final decision is taken next June. Experiencing difficulties, Nabucco last year decided to rein in its plans to construct a 4,000-kilometre long infrastructure linking Azerbaijan to Europe. Instead, it proposed an alternative 1,300-kilometre route from the Bulgarian Turkish border, which would link to Austria, through Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. This is currently being spearheaded by the Azerbaijan energy company, Socar, and the Turkish Botas and TPAO companies (these will, however, have to sell-off 29% of their consortium to foreign participants from Shah Deniz, BP, Statoil and Total). The Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) between Turkey and Azerbaijan will be connected to West-Nabucco.
As well is competing with their Russian rival South Stream, Nabucco is also in competition with the TransAdriatic Pipeline (TAP) project, headed by the Swiss energy supplier Axpo (formerly known as EGL, 42.5%), the Norwegian company, Statoil (42.5%) and the German EON Ruhrgas company (15%). This is due to supply gas over a 520-kilometre route from the Caspian region, through Greece and Albania and the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy and into Western Europe. In addition to the agreement between Nabucco and Shah Deniz, the TAP consortium also concluded an agreement of principle with the consortium in charge of Azerbaijani gas field operations, with a view to setting up a joint company, which will also sell 50% of its shares to Socar, BP and Total. Even though Nabucco revised its hoped-for transport capacity downwards, from 31-16 billion m3 of gas a year, the TAP is planning to supply between 10-20 billion m3 annually. The two projects have now managed to put another rival project, the South East Europe Pipeline (SEEP), out of the running, which was being spearheaded by BP, in Bulgaria and Hungary, via Romania. (EH/transl.fl)