Tag: Nabucco

The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP ) group has agreed offer up to 50% of its shares to the Shah Deniz gas consortium - made up of Azerbaijan's state gas company SOCAR and leading European energy partners. The deal follows the rival Nabucco pipeline's recent decision to give the Caspian Sea gas consortium the chance to acquire half of its shares.

Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz II gas group could agree to take a 50% stake in the Nabucco pipeline consortium by January, boosting Nabucco's prospects in a competition between projects that aim to pipe Azeri offshore gas into Europe.

The Nabucco West project still has a chance of winning the contest to transport gas from Azerbaijan to European countries, even after a rival consortium signed a funding deal, an executive of the country's state oil firm said.

UK oil major BP said it was no longer considering shipping gas from its Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan through the Nabucco pipeline, dealing a blow to the troubled European project. But the European Commission said the “full-scale version” of Nabucco was still the main option under consideration.

As long as the consortium managing the gas from Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan is ready and willing to guarantee supplies of gas to Italy via the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), Gazprom's South Stream project "is irrelevant", TAP Managing Director Kjetil Tungland told EurActiv in an exclusive interview.

Azerbaijan has eliminated one of the main competitors bidding for the gas of the Shah Deniz II offshore field, apparently over concerns that one of project's partners, Greek gas company DEPA, would not be able to carry on with the project.

A smaller, cheaper alternative to the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline could be the best choice to carry Caspian natural gas to Europe, though Nabucco retains US political support, Washington's special envoy for Eurasian energy said in Baku. 

Competitors in the race to give life to the 'Southern gas corridor,' aimed at supplying Europe with non-Russian gas sources, have all lodged bids to obtain the 10 billion cubic meters per year which will be available from the offshore Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan's state energy company has announced the discovery of major natural gas reserves off the country's Caspian coast: the Absheron field. Nabucco spokesperson Christian Dolezal told EurActiv that the pipeline consortium was counting not only on supplies from Shah Deniz II, but also on newly discovered gas fields.

Both the EU-favoured Nabucco pipeline and its Gazprom-sponsored competitor South Stream will "most probably" get a derogation from the Third Energy Package, the EU's legislative framework that provides competitors with free access to pipeline networks, Bulgarian Energy Minister Traycho Traykov announced today (14 July). EurActiv's partner in Bulgaria, Dnevnik, reports.

Russian energy giant Gazprom held an event in Brussels yesterday (25 May) to promote its South Stream gas pipeline but failed to answer questions about the project, which is seen as a competitor to the EU's own Nabucco plan.

The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and Bosnian system operator BH-Gas signed yesterday (7 April) an agreement paving the way for a future extension of the planned gas pipeline to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and Plinacro Ltd., a natural gas transmission system operator in Croatia, signed an agreement on Friday (25 February) providing for a future extension of the planned gas pipeline to Montenegro, Bosnia and Croatia.

EU officials are pushing for a merger of two strategic pipeline projects – Nabucco and its smaller Italian rival ITGI – to help secure gas supplies from Azerbaijan to Europe, according to news wire reports yesterday (17 February). The European Commission later confirmed it was encouraging projects in the 'Southern Gas Corridor' to cooperate.

Two major pipeline projects that have so far been considered rivals, the EU-favoured Nabucco and Gazprom's South Stream, may merge, US Ambassador to Italy David Thorne told Italian daily La Stampa in an interview published today (10 January).

Progress on South-East Europe's gas interconnectors – small pipelines that will link the region to its more developed neighbours – is a promising sign that these countries will become less dependent on Russian imports, writes Dr. Theodoros Tsakiris, energy expert at the Hellenic Centre for European Studies (EKEM) and research associate for 'The Athens Working Group: Transforming the Balkans'.

Pipeline projects with a political design, such as the EU-favoured Nabucco pipeline and the Gazprom-sponsored South Stream, are expensive compared to similar projects based on cost effectiveness, Kjetil Tungland, managing director of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), told EurActiv in an interview.

Araz Azimov, deputy foreign minister of Azerbaijan, said yesterday (2 November) that the Eastern Partnership, the EU's initiative for developing relations with its Eastern neigbours, was not adequate to address geopolitical challenges in the Caucasus.

Gazprom warned the European Union yesterday (14 October) that proceeding with reforms of the bloc's gas industry would herald the end of stable supplies, as the Russian energy giant would send more gas to Asia.

The final decision on investment in the Nabucco pipeline will definitely not be taken this year and has been  delayed until 2011 because gas supply talks with Azerbaijan are dragging on, an Austrian newspaper reported today (8 October).

Egemen Bağış, Turkey's chief EU negotiator, sought yesterday (29 September) to unblock Ankara's accession bid by calling on European Union countries to call referenda on the country's EU membership. Turkey may also chose to consult its citizens, he said.

The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) announced today (15 September) that the Shah Deniz II natural gas field in Azerbaijan is the initial target of gas intended for the project, designed to offer the shortest and most-cost-effective gas supply to Italy and European markets.

The Nabucco pipeline project has taken another step forward by ordering engineering work for two feeder lines from Turkey to Iraq and Georgia. However, a third planned feeder line from Turkey to Iran has been put on the back-burner due to political considerations, the consortium announced.

Azerbaijan and Turkey yesterday (7 June) signed a deal to ship 11 billion cubic metres of Azeri gas per year to Turkey. Shipments would start in 2017 and some of the gas may be pumped into the EU's planned Nabucco pipeline. Meanwhile, Northern Iraq declared in Turkey that it stands ready to provide gas supplies "to make Nabucco work".