Sat, Nov 21 2009

Nabucco deal to be signed July 13

Fri, Jul 03 2009 16:36 CET byAlex Bivol 1004 Views
Nabucco deal to be signed July 13

The intergovernmental agreement for the Nabucco natural gas pipeline will be signed in Ankara on July 13, it emerged on July 3.

"The commission has received an invitation to the signing ceremony," Ferran Tarradellas Espuny, the European Commission's spokesperson for energy issues, told a daily press briefing, as quoted by Dow Jones.

The deal "was agreed between the relevant member states, which are the ones Nabucco will cross, and Turkey, based on the principles of mutual solidarity, mutual equality and interdependence," he said.


Romania's economy minister Adriean Videanu, quoted by Reuters, said that the main obstacle raised by Turkey, which demanded that per cent of the pipeline's capacity for its domestic usage or for re-export. "As far as I know it is solved, but I do not know details," Videanu said.

The Nabucco consortium includes Turkey's Botas, Bulgaria's Bulgargaz, Romania's Transgaz, Hungary's MOL, Austria's OMV and Germany's RWE, all holding equal shares in the project. The pipeline will start at Erzurum in Turkey and end near Vienna, from where further extensions could be built into Germany and Poland.

Construction work is tentatively due to start in 2011 and the pipeline could be in commercial operation by 2014. Analysts, however, have questioned the consortium's ability to secure enough gas for the pipeline, which would have a capacity of 31 billion cu m when it is completed.

Write comment

Name:Comment:

Generate new code
Send your comment
EC opens talks with Ankara on Turkey joining Energy Community

Turkey is carrying out fundamental reforms to address its huge energy challenge, and has an important role to play in the Energy Community, European Energy Commissioner Andries Piebalgs says.

One step forward

Even as Nabucco accord is signed, doubts over supply and financing linger

Stanishev signs Nabucco deal in Ankara on July 13

EU governments have pledged 250 million euro to support the nearly eight billion euro project

Inheritance dispute

Management contracts handed to Bulgarian Energy Holding directors spark controversy even before new Cabinet is sworn in

Heating up

Two-horse race between EU-backed Nabucco and Russia’s South Stream pipelines looks to be heating up, but hurdles remain in the way of each project

Lessons learnt

Russia’s EU Trojan horse makes a change, as Bulgaria seems to have learned a lesson from January’s gas crisis - Europeanise its energy resources.

Gas chamber

Was President Purvanov’s energy forum anything more than just hot air?

More in this category

Bulgarian MPs resurrect proposal to raise spirits excise

Strong public opposition to price hikes prompted Prime Minister Boiko Borissov to axe the Finance Ministry proposal to increase the excise duty on spirits, but MPs have put it back on the agenda.

Back to the future

Bulgaria’s Cabinet seeks to reverse recent changes in the telecommunications sector

At a crossroads, again

Kremikovtzi’s prospects for a recovery plan appear increasingly distant

Cash or card?

Bulgarians are getting the hang of debit and credit cards, MasterCard says

Bulgarian telecom Spectrum Net acquires local peer Orbitel

The two telecoms, both set up to challenge former fixed-line state monopoly BTC, will merge operations and expect to report 20 million euro in revenue and a gross profit of five million euro in 2010.

© 2000-2009, Sofia Echo Media Ltd.

Web Design by RIZN

Sofia Echo Media is part of the Economedia Group.
The news and information content on this website is provided by our editorial team and is copyrighted. Any unauthorised reproduction or use of it is strictly forbidden. Reproduction of this website's content is permitted only with prior written permission from the Editor-in-Chief, should be propertly acredited and provide an active link back to our site. Comments posted by the website's visitors are independent of the editorial materials and do not represent the views of sofiaecho.com. Sofia Echo Media cannot be held responsible for the statements contained in visitor comments. The percentаge change in the shares' prices are based on the price of the last transaction of the current session compared to the price of the last transaction of the previous session. Bulgarian Stock Exchange data is not real-time, but updated every 15 minutes, and should not be used as a basis for decisions about buying or selling stock options.