The foreign ministers of the Nabucco West transit countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania) in the letter to the European Commission hailed the project as “embodiment of the European principles”, Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH (NIC) reported on Wednesday.
According to the report, the ministers have sent a letter to the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, the Vice President of the European Commission Baroness Catherine Ashton and the Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger, where they stated that the realization of Nabucco would contribute greatly to the achievement of the Commission’s policy priorities in terms of diversification and security of supply.
“From its very inception, the Nabucco project has been an embodiment of the European principles and priorities in achieving energy security. It connects a new source of hydrocarbon resources to national markets that need them most, through new and safe transit routes,” the letter said.
According to the letter, double diversification (diversification of sources and transport routes of energy) is a key component of a safe, secure and integrated European energy market.
The ministers also reiterate that Nabucco has the “tested political support” of their countries, and emphasise the importance of the selection of Nabucco as the European route for natural gas.
Nabucco West is a short-cut version of Nabucco project, which envisages construction of the pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria. The gas to be produced within the second phase of the development of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field is considered as the main source for the project.
The project’s current shareholders are Bulgarian Energy Holding, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas, Austrian OMV and Hungary’s FGSZ.
Two pipelines, Nabucco West and TAP, are currently competing over transportation of Azerbaijani gas to the European markets. In March these projects submitted their final offers to the Shah Deniz Consortium. The transportation offers include substantial information about the technical, regulatory, financial and other aspects of the projects.
The final decision on the European pipeline is expected to be made by end of June 2013.
Source;Trend.az