Azerbaijan, Baku, Jul.31 / Trend A.Badalova /
Bosnia and Herzegovina, located in the central part of the Balkan Peninsula, has a real chance to join the Nabucco pipeline project to transport the Caspian and Middle East gas to Europe. The meeting between Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his Bosnian counterpart, Sven Alkalaj focused on Bosnia and Herzegovina's joining to the Nabucco pipeline project, which will be put into operation in 2014, the Turkish media said.
The negotiations with Turkey, which is one of the shareholders of the project and a transit country, on the participation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Nabucco, may testify Balkan countries' interest in the gas pipeline. It is not surprising. Nabucco is essential for Europe to diversify its sources of gas supply and increase the security of transportation. The Nabucco became a chance for rescue to many European countries after a winter gas crisis which broke out due to suspension of Russian gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine. At present, the countries increasingly express their concerns about the next gas crisis due to the current tension between Russia and Ukraine.
Bosnia and Herzegovina with an area of 51,000 square kilometers was one of the Balkan countries mostly suffered from the gas crisis due tolack of gas production and estimated gas resources. The gas supply to the country decreased by 25 percent during the crisis, the Bosnian Gas Company "BX Gas" said.
According to the estimation of the U.S. Public Energy Information Administration (EIA), Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 4.55 million people, need about 2.4 billion cubic meters of gas in the period from 1998 to 2006. Since 1998, gas consumption in the country increased by 0.2 billion cubic meters to 0.4 billion cubic meters in 2006. About 0.3 billion cubic meters of the Russian gas was sold in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2007.
Bosnia and Herzegovina consuming in average 500-600 million cubic meters of gas per a year has all prerequisites to participate in Nabucco project. Construction of the Hungary-Croatia gas pipeline will provide Bosnia and Herzegovina with new routes of gas supplies and Caspian gas transported via Nabucco can be among this volume.
In March, the Croatian gas company Plinacro and Hungarian FGSz signed an agreement on joining their pipeline by late 2010.
Hungary will be able to get gas through the Nabucco, along with the Russian South Stream gas pipeline, which with a capacity of 7.5 billion cubic meters will supply gas to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Italy.
Supposedly, Nabucco gas pipeline will deliver 2 billion cubic meters of gas per year to Romania and Hungary, 1 billion cubic meters to Bulgaria, 15 billion cubic meters of gas per a year to the other countries through the Baumgarten gas distribution center in Austria.
The Nabucco project worth 7.9 billion euro will deliver Azerbaijani and Central Asian gas to the EU. Nabucco shareholders are the Austrian OMV, Hungarian MOL, Bulgarian Bulgargaz, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas and German RWE with 16.67 percent each.
Construction of the pipeline is expected to begin in 2011 and the first supplies - in 2014. Its maximum capacity will be 31 billion cubic meters per year. An investment solution on the project will be made in the first quarter of 2010.
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