Azerbaijan, Baku, May 14 / Trend A.Badalova /
The national regulators of Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria have confirmed via a draft decision the prolongation of the existing 50% exemption from EU legislation on third party access granted to Nabucco gas pipeline project, Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH reported on Tuesday.
The prolongation is aligned with the expectations of the delivery timelines of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field's gas, which is considered as the main source for Nabucco West project.
The report said that the four national regulators also confirmed via this decision their support for the Nabucco legal and regulatory framework, consisting of the Nabucco Intergovernmental Agreement, the Project Support Agreements and the Exemptions.
Exemption from current EU legislation, which states that 100% network access has to be made available to companies not directly involved, can be only be granted in the case of major cross-border projects.
Currently the consortium of Shah Deniz field development is considering two options for transporting its gas to the European markets - Nabucco West and TAP. The final decision on the pipeline route to transport Azerbaijani gas to Europe will be made in June, 2013.
Nabucco West is a short-cut version of Nabucco project, which provides for the construction of the pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria. The project is proposed to connect with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) at the Turkish-Bulgarian border, transiting Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania to the Central European Gas Hub in Baumgarten, Austria.
The project's current shareholders are Bulgarian Energy Holding, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas, Austrian OMV and Hungary's FGSZ.