Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 5 / Trend /
The cost of the Nabucco project pipeline can be reduced by falling steel prices, the Energy Intelligence Group quoted Nabucco Gas Pipeline International Managing Director Reinhard Mitchek as saying at a conference in Ankara. Project costs are currently estimated at 7.9 billion euro.
On Feb. 3, official LME stock steel prices were $351 per one ton with immediate delivery and $331 with three-month delivery. Far East steel was priced at $295 with immediate delivery and $300 with three-month delivery.
Based on a recent World Steel Association report, steel production hit 1.329 million tons for the first time in 11 years in 2008.
The starting point for the gas pipeline may be the Turkish border with Georgia and Iran and Ankara.
The Nabucco project worth 7.9 billion euro will deliver Azerbaijani and Central Asian gas to the EU. Construction of the pipeline is expected to commence in 2010. Its maximum capacity will be 31 billion cubic meters per year. Nabucco shareholders are the Austrian OMV, Hungarian MOL, Bulgarian Bulgargaz, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas and German RWE with 16.7 percent each.