Economy
Nabucco plans may not have to be put in the bin - OMV
Earlier on Wednesday, OMV announced that the Shah Deniz consortium, which operates a giant gas field in Azerbaijan, has not selected Nabucco West, the OMV-led consortium that was bidding to build a pipeline to bring Azeri gas to markets in Europe.The group developing Azerbaijan's vast gas reserves has chosen the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) via Greece to link to Europe, Roiss said on Wednesday, defeating the Nabucco West consortium which had backed a route to Austria.
OMV said it had been told that higher gas prices in Greece and Italy had tipped the decision in favour of TAP.
"The Nabucco project is over for us," Reuters cited OMV CEO Gerhard Roiss as telling a press conference yesterday.
The choice was driven by higher gas prices in Greece and Italy, he said.
The company said the Nabucco partners would evaluate over the next weeks whether to build a pipeline for OMV's own gas from the Black Sea, potentially its biggest gas find ever.
This way the EUR 50 bn planning costs would not be lost, because the plans may be used for another pipeline. Austrian news agency APA cited Roiss as saying that the money spent on Nabucco was an investment that went to the right place. The soonest a decision on a new pipeline could be reached is 12 to 18 months, after an assessment on Black Sea gas reserves is concluded, he said.
TAP is fronted by Norway's Statoil, Swiss company AXPO and E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany.
The TAP pipeline will collect Azeri gas in Turkey and carry it across Greece and Albania before reaching southern Italy, stretching 870 kilometres (540 miles).
Nabucco West was more ambitious, tracking a 1,329-kilometre route north from Turkey to Austria via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.
According to press reports, an official announcement by the Shah Deniz consortium is scheduled for Friday.
OMV said it had been told that higher gas prices in Greece and Italy had tipped the decision in favour of TAP.
"The Nabucco project is over for us," Reuters cited OMV CEO Gerhard Roiss as telling a press conference yesterday.
The choice was driven by higher gas prices in Greece and Italy, he said.
The company said the Nabucco partners would evaluate over the next weeks whether to build a pipeline for OMV's own gas from the Black Sea, potentially its biggest gas find ever.
This way the EUR 50 bn planning costs would not be lost, because the plans may be used for another pipeline. Austrian news agency APA cited Roiss as saying that the money spent on Nabucco was an investment that went to the right place. The soonest a decision on a new pipeline could be reached is 12 to 18 months, after an assessment on Black Sea gas reserves is concluded, he said.
TAP is fronted by Norway's Statoil, Swiss company AXPO and E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany.
The TAP pipeline will collect Azeri gas in Turkey and carry it across Greece and Albania before reaching southern Italy, stretching 870 kilometres (540 miles).
Nabucco West was more ambitious, tracking a 1,329-kilometre route north from Turkey to Austria via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.
According to press reports, an official announcement by the Shah Deniz consortium is scheduled for Friday.
