Azerbaijan , Baku, Oct. 10 /Trend A.Badalova/
Germany 's Bayerngas GmbH has started negotiations with the Nabucco consortium on joining the project.
"We have just started the negotiations to be the seventh shareholder in the Nabucco project," Spokesman for the Munich-based Bayerngas Dirk Barz told Trend on Monday. "We hope that they will be successful."
Barz said the negotiations are expected to give results in 2011-2012. He didn't name the possible share of the company in the project.
"That will be output of the negotiations," Barz said.
In late September, Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH announced Bayerngas' intention to become the seventh shareholder in the Nabucco gas pipeline project.
Managing Director, Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH Reinhard Mitschek said the intention of the German company is a great step forward for Nabucco.
The company has very strong downstream portfolio.
"A strong downstream market is an important asset for the pipeline and something that a new shareholder such as Bayerngas will be able to strengthen," Mitschek said.
The current participants of Nabucco project are Austrian OMV, Hungarian MOL, Bulgarian Bulgargaz, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas and German RWE companies. Each of participants has equal share to the amount of 16.67 percent.
Bayerngas GmbH is Germany's largest municipal procurement company of natural gas. Bayerngas purchases natural gas for its customers - public utility companies, regional suppliers and industrial customers - via the European procurement market (2010: approximately 6bcm). Bayerngas is 100 % owned by its customers and, at the same time, active on all value added levels: from gas production to the development of innovative end-customer products for its shareholder customers, six German public utility companies and an Austrian gas supplier.
Nabucco envisages gas supplies from the Caspian region and the Middle East to the EU countries. The project's construction is planned to start in 2013. The pipeline's maximum capacity will hit 31 billion cubic meters per year.