Azerbaijan, Baku, June 29 / Trend A.Badalova/
The negotiations on cooperation between Nabucco West and Trans Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) will be started this summer, Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH Managing Director, Reinhard Mitschek said during a conference call on Friday.
"In this summer period, we will start talks with TANAP for all technical aspects of cooperation," Mitschek said, adding that he does not exclude the negotiations will start even this month.
Nabucco West is a short-cut version of Nabucco project, which envisages construction of the pipeline from Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria. The Nabucco West Proposal was submitted by Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH on 16 May, 2012.
This week, the consortium of Azerbijani Shah Deniz gas field development selected Nabucco West as the single pipeline option for the potential export of Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas to Central Europe. The decision was made on the basis of the publicly communicated selection criteria announced in 2011.
Mitschek said that Nabucco West will start now deeper detailed negotiations with the Shah Deniz consortium on various aspects of the project.
"We will align our project schedule with the schedule of Trans Anatolian Pipeline and of the Shah Deniz exploration and production project," Mitschek said.
He also added that all Nabucco shareholders, including Turkish BOTAS and Germany RWE, are very committed to the project, and having a stable shareholder group is a big advantage.
Talking about the new potential shareholders in the project, Mitschek said that the consortium is currently negotiating with the German Bayerngas, which is expected to conclude due diligence process in the nearest future.
"I don't exclude that other European market players will be interested in the future to become a shareholder of the project," Mitschek said, adding one of the Shah Deniz partners can also be among the interested parties. New partner in the project, according to Mitschek, may appear by summer or autumn of this year.
"We will have to see in the near future...until summer or autumn on new partners in the project," he said.
The shareholders of Nabucco project are Bulgarian Energy Holding, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas, Austrian OMV, German RWE and Hungary's FGSZ.