Bulgaria's Nabucco Consortium Representative Dispels Unfeasibility Claims

Dimitar Abadzhiev, Bulgaria's representative in Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH, has said that the key decision on the pipeline is to be taken in June. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Dimitar Abadzhiev, Bulgaria's representative in Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH, has sought to dispel claims that the EU-backed energy diversification project is unfeasible.

In a Sunday interview for the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR), he said that none of the countries participating in the gas pipeline project had even hinted at doubts over its successful implementation.

The signatories to the Nabucco Intergovernmental Agreement are Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey.

On May 22, the Bulgarian Parliament approved the construction of the Nabucco gas pipeline into a law.

"We still consider this as the most viable project aimed at connecting the Turkish gas market to Europe," Abadzhiev stated on Sunday.

The Bulgarian representative in the Nabucco Consortium said that the media were spreading mere comments, while the actual decision on the matter was to be taken by the BP-led consortium developing Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field in June.

"Nabucco meets all the conditions for a secure pipeline in both versions, the full-scale version and the shorter version, Nabucco West," Abadzhiev added.

He went on to say that the recent media statement of oil major BP expressed the company's interest in Nabucco West.

BP representative Iain Conn said Thursday that the company was no longer considering Nabucco as an option for shipping gas from the Shah Deniz Stage 2 Gas field in Azerbaijan.

The BP official made clear that BP and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) were discussing only two options for their gas –Nabucco West  and the  South East Europe Pipeline (SEEP).

The downsized version of the gas pipeline, Nabucco West, provides for a 1300-km pipeline transporting Caspian gas from the Bulgarian-Turkish border to the Central European Gas Hub (CEGH) in Baumgarten and beyond.

Nabucco West's capacity has not been conclusively specified.

Under the original project, the 4000-km Nabucco gas pipeline is to carry over 30 bcm per year of gas into Europe to reduce its dependency on Russian imports.

Nabucco's shareholders are Austria's OMV, Germany's RWE, Hungary's MOL, Turkey's Botas, Bulgaria's Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) and Romania's Transgaz.

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