Azernews.Az

The Nabucco pipeline consortium continues to consider Turkey as an important partner for its project, a Nabucco official has said.

"Turkish Botas is a shareholder in the Nabucco project, and Turkey is an important partner for us," Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH spokesman, Christian Dolezal, told the Baku-based Trend news agency in an e-mail. "Turkey signed and ratified the Intergovernmental and the Project Support Agreement, and therefore we can rely on the political support," he added.

Earlier this week a Turkish energy ministry spokesman told DPA that although Turkey remains party to the six-country consortium backing Nabucco, the country is now prioritizing the development of the Trans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) project.

TANAP is a proposed Azerbaijani-Turkish project which envisages construction of a pipeline from the eastern border of Turkey to the country's western border.

Azerbaijan and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the consortium that will build the gas pipeline. The TANAP pipeline cost will be set by the Azerbaijani state energy firm Socar and may be close to $5 billion. The initial capacity of TANAP will amount to 16 billion cubic meters per year.

Dolezal said the Nabucco project has made an offer to the consortium developing Azerbaijan’s giant Shahdaniz field in the Caspian Sea, "which contains the major parameters for the transport solution, with a flexible and scalable concept irrespective of the TANAP idea".

"We are now in an alignment process, in fruitful meetings with the Shahdaniz consortium," he said.

The details of negotiations were not disclosed due to confidentiality.

Dolezal added that the Nabucco consortium does not consider TANAP to be a rival project.

Nabucco gas pipeline is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region and Middle East to European markets. The project's partners include the Austrian OMV, Hungarian MOL, Bulgarian Bulgargaz, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas and German RWE.

Gas which will be produced during the second stage of Shahdaniz field development is considered the main source for Nabucco.

On October 1, 2011, the pipeline projects designed to transport Azerbaijani gas to European markets that are part of the Southern Gas Corridor – Nabucco, Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy (ITGI) -- submitted their final proposals to Azerbaijan. The consortium developing the Shahdaniz field, which has estimated reserves of 1.2 trillion cubic meters, is considering possible routes. The decision on the preferable transportation route is expected to be made in the first quarter of 2012.

Dolezal also stressed that the Nabucco project is advanced in the engineering, economics, legal framework and financing, and can be realized in efficient time after the gas supply is secured.

Construction of the Nabucco pipeline is planned to start in 2013 and first supplies are scheduled for 2017. The total length of the pipeline is 3,900 kilometers and maximum capacity will be 31 billion cubic meters per year.