Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 19 / Trend A.Badalova/
A small pipeline projects such as the Interconnect-Turkey, Greece, Italy (ITGI) project could book capacity through Nabucco, Nabucco Consortium Managing Director Reinhard Mitschek said.
"Every market player can participate in the second part of the open season process for capacity where third-party shippers can take part," Mitschek told in an interview with Reuters.
Nabucco project id designed to transport gas from the Caspian region and the Middle East to the EU countries. The project is worth 7.9 billion euro, with its construction planned to start in 2012 and the first supplies to be commissioned in 2015. The project's participants include the Austrian OMV, Hungarian MOL, Bulgarian Bulgargaz, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas and German RWE.
Open season process involves putting the capacity of the Nabucco gas pipeline on sale. During this procedure, shareholders of the project will receive up to 15 billion cubic meters of gas per year (50 percent of the total transport capacity of the gas pipeline), the remaining 50 percent will be offered to the third parties on equal terms and the principles of transparency.
Regarding the possible merger of the Nabucco project with ITGI, Mitschek said consortium sees no need to merge its gas pipeline project with a smaller one to succeed. But he added that 'he understood European calls to coordinate energy policy'.
The Nabucco Pipeline Consortium stated that no discussions held between Nabucco and ITGI about any potential cooperation and no discussions have taken place within the consortium.