Brussels, 06/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - After months of tough negotiations between the countries promoting the project, the intergovernmental agreement on the Nabucco gas pipeline, which will provide the EU with gas from Central Asia and the Middle East, going via Georgia and Turkey to avoid Russia, will finally see the light of day on 13 July. It will be signed in Ankara by representatives of the five countries through which the gas pipeline will transit: four Member States (Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania) and Turkey, plus Germany, another Member State of the EU through which the pipeline will not transit, but whose energy company RWE is the sixth company which is a member of the Nabucco consortium alongside the gas companies of Austria, OMV, Hungary, MOL, Romania, Transgaz, Bulgaria, Bulgargaz and Turkey, Botas.
Implementation of the gas pipeline project, which is supposed to be operational by 2014, has suffered a number of delays due to disagreements between the promoter countries. After the conference held in Budapest in January (EUROPE 9826), followed by the South Corridor Summit in May (EUROPE 9898), the terms for the transit of the gas through Turkey had still not been resolved on, as Ankara was demanding the right to buy 15% of Nabucco's capacity, which would equate to 30 billion cubic metres, at a preferential rate for domestic use. This demand runs completely counter to Community legislation on the internal market. Reacting to the announcement of a compromise, the details of which have not yet been published, between the European Commission and the Member States involved on one hand and the Turkish government on the other, José Manuel Barroso on Friday 3 July welcomed the forthcoming signature of the much-anticipated intergovernmental agreement. "The Nabucco project is of vital importance for the energy security of Europe and its policy of diversifying its gas supply, partner countries, transport routes and the development of the gas South corridor. The Commission has played a vital role by acting as a facilitator to turn long-winded discussions into a concrete agreement. I am delighted that Turkey and the Member States of the EU concerned have reached an agreement inspired by the principles of mutual solidarity, mutual equality and inter-dependence. The intergovernmental agreement should facilitate the transportation of gas to Turkey and the EU, on a basis which is unacceptable for the producer States and in line with the international legal commitments of the contracting States", said the President of the Commission in a press release (our translation). The forthcoming signature of the agreement should allow Nabucco to make up for some proportion of the delay caused as a result of the rival Russian gas pipeline project, South Stream, which is ahead by a length in terms of sources of supply, as Azerbaijan has promised to prioritise purchases by the Russian energy company Gazprom of gas from the second phase of exploitation of the Shakh Deniz field. (E.H./trans.fl)