Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 21 / Trend A.Badalova/
Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH (NIC) expects to form the joint venture of nine to ten shareholders at the end of the day, CEO of NIC Reinhard Mitschek said during a conference call on Monday.
"The shareholder structure for the first half of 2013 and then ongoing with the pipeline selection decision will be reviewed," Mitsche said.
Mitschek stressed that once the equity option will be executed by the four partners on the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field's development (SOCAR, BP, Statoil and Total), they will join the project.
He also mentioned that Germany's RWE proposed to exit the project, and this will be soon announced by the respective NIC shareholders and also by the RWE.
Nabucco West is a short-cut version of Nabucco project, which envisages construction of the pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria.
Last week Nabucco shareholders and Shah Deniz partners signed Cooperation Agreement and Equity Option and Funding Agreement.
Equity Option and Funding Agreement, in particular, envisages joint funding of the development costs of the Nabucco West up to the pipeline selection decision for Shah Deniz' European export route, as well as the granting to Potential Investors of equity options of 50 percent to participate as shareholders in NIC following a positive pipeline selection decision by the Shah Deniz Consortium in favour of Nabucco West.