Nabucco will serve energy demand in Turkey, Europe

Christian Dolezal ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Nabucco Executive Christian Dolezal

Natural gas is the fuel bridging the way to the future for the decades to come. Growing economies and emerging markets like Turkey are therefore exploring all options to diversify and enlarge their gas portfolios, with increasing imports and throughput of gas. This creates new business opportunities and new jobs.

The Nabucco pipeline is dedicated to creating a win-win situation for all parties involved, serving the interests of imports, diversification, and exports with new infrastructure.

The European market will need considerably more gas imports in the future, as domestic production declines. Consequently the Nabucco Pipeline will transport gas via the Central European Gas Hub in Austria into European industrial centers as well as to the growing markets of southeastern Europe.
Nabucco will serve the demands of a market of about 400 million people in Europe. Past gas shortfalls have shown that diversification and security of supply are challenges that need to be solved, and Nabucco will contribute to this solution. As Turkey is located between the energy rich areas and the consumer markets that need energy, Turkey’s role as a transfer point for energy diversification and supply security becomes more important than ever.

The project’s development is far advanced both in Turkey and in European countries. National Nabucco companies have been set up and staffed in all of the target countries. The company has its headquarters in Ankara. Up to 80 percent of the front-end engineering is completed in Turkey. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Reports for the more than 1,400 kilometer-long sections between Ankara and Turkish-Bulgarian border and between the Turkish-Iraqi border and Sivas have been officially submitted for approval to the Ministry of Environment and City Planning in Turkey. The “public interest decision” for Nabucco by the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and the decision in Bulgaria to rank Nabucco as a “national project” underline the political support that exists for the project, and will speed up the implementation process.
Nabucco has a uniquely strong legal basis. The Intergovernmental Agreement was signed by all governments along the Nabucco route in Ankara in 2009 and was ratified by the respective Parliaments. The Treaty will be in force for 50 years, providing a harmonized legal framework, stable transport conditions, and third-party access. It also guarantees full political support from the transit countries. The five Project Support Agreements signed in Kayseri 2011 strengthen this framework, functioning as bilateral agreements between the Nabucco Company and the National Ministries.

In terms of financing, the due diligence process of the institutional financing institutions is ongoing. A mandate letter was signed between the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), and IFC (a member of the World Bank Group), the shareholders of Nabucco, and Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH. This was a substantial step towards a potential financing package of up to four billion Euros.

Nabucco has always been open to new shareholders and project modifications, as long as they bring added value to the project. Currently the Nabucco Shareholders -- BOTAŞ, RWE, OMV, FGSZ, Bulgarian Energy Holding, and Transgaz -- are in negotiations with the upstream producers in Azerbaijan to find the best transport solution that serves the interests of all involved. As a multi-sourcing project, Nabucco will also be capable of transport quantities of gas from Iraq as well as from Turkmenistan. We are confident that Nabucco will offer the best commercial, flexible, and scalable package that brings the greatest benefit to all entities involved.

We know the 15th Eurasia Energy Summit will bring together the most important decision makers to discuss key items on the energy agenda, and at Nabucco Gas Pipeline International we are pleased to contribute to such an important discussion platform. Energy security is one of the topics with the greatest potential globally, and one to which the Nabucco Gas Pipeline will continue to contribute substantially.

Nabucco Executive Christian Dolezal
Mr. Dolezal, Corporate Communication Director, will speak at the Energy, Economy, Environment and Development session at 2 pm today.