Azerbaijan, Baku, May 15 / Trend A. Badalova /
In a couple of days the consortium of Nabucco West gas pipeline project is expected to sign a shareholder agreement with the partners on Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field development.
"It /agreement/ will be signed very soon, in a couple of days," an official representative of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH (NIC) told Trend on Wednesday.
Nabucco West is a short-cut version of Nabucco project, which provides for construction of a pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria. Gas to be produced within the second phase of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field development is considered as the main source for the project.
Currently the Shah Deniz consortium is considering two options for transporting its gas to the European markets - Nabucco West and TAP (Trans Adriatic Pipeline). The final decision on the European pipeline is expected to be made by late June 2013.
In January Nabucco shareholders and Shah Deniz partners SOCAR, BP, Statoil and Total signed 'Cooperation Agreement' and 'Equity Option and Funding Agreement'. Equity Option and Funding Agreement particularly provides for granting to the Shah Deniz partners a 50 percent share for participation as shareholders in NIC following a positive pipeline selection decision by the Shah Deniz Consortium in favour of Nabucco West.
Earlier CEO of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH Reinhard Mitschek said that Nabucco West expects to finalize the Shareholder Agreement with the partners on Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field development in April.
Nabucco West project's current shareholders are Bulgarian Energy Holding, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas, Austrian OMV and Hungary's FGSZ.