Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 5 / Trend A.Badalova /
The 422 km long Bulgarian section of the Nabucco pipeline has formally entered into the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Approval phase, the Nabucco National Company in the country announced on Monday.
According to the Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH report, the documentation relating to the EIA procedure was submitted to the Ministry of Environment in Bulgaria on 31 October 2012.
Earlier this year, Nabucco announced the completion of the EIA permitting process for the Hungarian section of the route, where the last of four permits was granted in June.
According to the Managing Director of the Nabucco Gas Pipeline GmbH Reinhard Mitschek, Nabucco is far advanced in Bulgaria,
"Nabucco is committed to following best practices in line with national and international regulations, to working with all stakeholders to ensure that we present a win-win situation for the countries we transit," he said.
In June the consortium of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas field development chose Nabucco West as the single pipeline option for the potential export of Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas to Central Europe.
Nabucco West is a short-cut version of Nabucco project, which envisages construction of the pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria.
The project's current shareholders are Bulgarian Energy Holding, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas, Austrian OMV, German RWE and Hungary's FGSZ, and each of them holds 16.67-percent share.
Currently, the Shah Deniz consortium considers two options to deliver its gas to Europe - Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and Nabucco West. The final decision on a pipeline route will be made in 2013.