Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 18 / Trend A.Badalova/
The Shareholders of the Nabucco gas pipeline project and the partners on the Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field's development (SOCAR, BP, Statoil and Total) signed Cooperation Agreement, as well as Equity Option and Funding Agreement, SOCAR told Trend.
The documents were signed on Friday in Vienna.
Equity Option and Funding Agreement, in particular, envisages joint funding of the development costs of the Nabucco West up to the pipeline selection decision for Shah Deniz' European export route, as well as the granting to Potential Investors of equity options of 50 percent to participate as shareholders in NIC following a positive pipeline selection decision by the Shah Deniz Consortium in favour of Nabucco West.
In June, 2012 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. The final decision on the pipeline route to transport Azerbaijani gas to Europe will be made in June, 2013.
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.
EU Energy Commissioner Oettinger in its statement welcomed the ratification of TANAP gas pipeline agreement and the agreement completed today between the Shah Deniz 2 consortium and Nabucco consortium.
"I am pleased to see that a crucial step towards realisation of the South Corridor has been taken: both Azerbaijan and Turkey have ratified the TANAP agreement, thus enabling a dedicated infrastructure for the transport of Azeri gas to the EU," Oettinger said.