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EU does not consider Nabucco as priority gas pipeline project

Oil&Gas Materials 28 April 2012 09:29 (UTC +04:00)
The European Commission (EC) does not consider the Nabucco gas pipeline project as the priority to transport gas to Europe.
EU does not consider Nabucco as priority gas pipeline project

Azerbaijan, Baku, 27 Trend V. Zhavoronkova/

The European Commission (EC) does not consider the Nabucco gas pipeline project as the priority to transport gas to Europe.

"The Commission is neutral where the gas ends up in Europe, and it supports all pipelines in the EU, not only Nabucco but also TAP for example," Marlene Holzner, a spokesperson of EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger, told Trend over phone from Brussels.

Hungarian MOL has serious concerns over the Nabucco gas pipeline project and is ready to sell its share in it, the company's official stated week. Later Bulgaria reported that it has no real capability to implement the Nabucco project and offered their partners the following - if we want to build Nabucco, then the European Investment Bank could fund it, after which Bulgaria would gradually reimburse loans.

"The Commission is not in the position to comment on commercial decisions taken by companies of a private undertaking and pipeline project [Nabucco]," Holzner told Trend.

She added that the aim of the Commission has always been to open the Southern Gas Corridor for the EU in order to directly and physically link the EU gas market to the largest deposits of gas in the world in the Caspian Sea basin and the Middle East.

"The Commission always said that Nabucco, benefiting from a robust Intergovernmental Agreement between all countries concerned is the pipeline that meets the EU's strategic interest in opening the Southern Corridor, namely creating the possibility to transport large volumes of gas through a dedicated infrastructure under a clear and transparent legal framework," Holzner mentioned.

She said the EU wants to see a dedicated pipeline to be built outside the EU with scalable capacity and a clear and transparent legal framework for the pipeline which would ensure uninterrupted gas supply to the EU.

"Not only is more gas expected to come from Azerbaijan, but also from Turkmenistan through the Trans Caspian Pipeline that is currently being discussed. All pipelines now depend on the commercial decisions taken in Azerbaijan by the Shah Deniz II Consortium, which has today the only gas available to be allocated to a pipeline," Holzner added.

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