Azernews.Az

BAKU – Nabucco managing director Reinhard Mitschek expects first gas to be supplied for pipeline in late 2015 from Azerbaijan and Iraq.

Mitschek told a news conference in Baku Wednesday that during the first stage, gas produced by Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR or that extracted during Phase 1 of developing the Azerbaijani Shahdaniz field in the Caspian Sea could be transported, not gas from Shahdaniz Phase 2, as previously expected.

Mitschek said the "Open Season" under the Nabucco project will be opened by 2011.

"During this procedure, the project shareholders will have the opportunity to supply about 15 billion cubic meters of gas per year [about 50 percent of the pipeline’s capacity], while the other 50 percent will be offered to a third party under equal conditions."

Mitschek said Azerbaijan has enough gas to fill Nabucco. Moreover, transporting Iraqi gas to European markets via the pipeline makes the project promising.

"10bn cubic meters of Iraqi gas will be transported through Nabucco during the initial stage. In the future, the volume could be brought to 25bn cubic meters."

The Nabucco Gas Pipeline International managing director said the conduit will meet 5 percent of Europe’s demand for gas.

"Europe’s annual demand is currently 500bn cubic meters. 300bn cubic meters of the volume is imported. Over the next five to ten years the demand is predicted to increase by 100bn cu. m. to 600bn cu. m. Also, European gas production is expected to decrease from