14 Jul 2009
Nabucco looks to Iran
This article rain last week while I was still in Abkhazia, and the situation has actually changed somewhat since. I say somewhat because although the deal has now been officially signed, all the of the root problems remain. Here’s what I wrote about it last week for the Times:
TBILISI, Georgia — Uncertain supplies from Central Asia and Iraq have led a European Union-backed pipeline consortium to look to Iran as a source of natural gas to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian energy.
The proposed $11.1 billion Nabucco pipeline, which would run from Central Europe through the Balkans and Turkey, would bring natural gas to Europe from Caspian Sea nations if it comes online in 2014.
Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey — the countries through which the pipeline would pass — will sign an agreement in Ankara, the Turkish capital, next week to provide a legal framework for allocating gas to each country, Agence France-Presse reported Saturday.
However, such a signing has already been delayed several times.
Reinhard Mitschek, managing director of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International, confirmed in a phone interview that he envisions supply coming from two feeder pipelines — one in Georgia, the other in Iran. Nabucco would also possibly transport Iranian natural gas to European consumers.
“In order to secure supplies, every market player — be it a producer, or a transmission system operator, or a downstream operator or a gas trader — wants to diversify the gas portfolio. And that’s what we are doing,” he said.
Click here to read the rest of the article at the WashingtonTimes.com