Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 27 / Trend A.Badalova/
Bulgaria is actively involved in the implementation of Nabucco gas pipeline project as one of its six shareholders, Bulgarian Economy, Energy and Tourism Minister Traicho Traikov said in an interview with Novinite Sofia News Agency.
He said Nabucco is the most large-scale and integral project of the Southern Gas Corridor, which has its place when it comes to providing the much needed diversification and security of natural gas supplies. However, according to Traikov, the crucial issue for the successful implementation of such kind of projects is providing sufficient and secure volumes of natural gas in order to justify the implementation of such a large-scale investment and guarantee the project's profitability.
"In this sense, the final configuration of the Nabucco project and its positive development will be directly associated with the available resource base," Traikov said.
Nabucco gas pipeline is one of the Southern Gas Corridor projects, which is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region and Middle east to the European countries. Gas to be produced during the second stage of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field development is considered as the main source for Nabucco. The project's partners include Bulgarian Energy Holding, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas, Austrian OMV, German RWE and Hungary's FGSZ.
Shah Deniz consortium is currently considering three possible export routes - Nabucco, South East Europe Pipeline (SEEP) and TAP projects.
Recently Nabucco project submitted the project's new conception to the Shah Deniz consortium. According to this conception, the pipeline will be laid from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to the Austrian Baumgarten. The original concept of Nabucco project envisaged the construction of the pipeline from the Georgian-Turkish and Iraqi-Turkish borders to Baumgarten. The pipeline was expected to run through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria over a distance of 3,900 kilometres.
Traikov also stressed that the implementation of proposed Azerbaijan-Turkish Trans Anadolu Pipeline (TANAP), can lead to a new configuration and different starting point for the Nabucco project.
TANAP envisages construction of a pipeline from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border. Azerbaijan and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the consortium that will build the gas pipeline.