Romania ratifies Nabucco support agreement
By Aynur Jafarova
Romania's Senate has passed a draft law with 141 votes in favor of ratifying the Project Support Agreement on the Nabucco gas pipeline project.
The agreement was signed between Romania, the pipeline consortium Nabucco Gas Pipeline International, and Nabucco Gas Pipeline Romania S.R.L on the Nabucco Pipeline System in June 2011.
According to the law the Project Support Agreement represents an accord reached for the enforcement of the Nabucco agreement.
The agreement also stipulates provisions regarding the state's obligations to cooperate with international and national Nabucco companies, in the implementation of the project as well as clauses referring to the access of third parties, environmental protection, technical standards and contractual liabilities.
In September 2012 the Romanian government passed a bill ratifying the Nabucco Project Support Agreement. Later, in October, President Traian Basescu signed a decree submitting the agreement for the support of the Nabucco project to the Romanian parliament for approval.
Nabucco West is a short-cut version of the Nabucco project, which envisages construction of a pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria. It is one of the two options -- along with the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) -- which is currently considered by the consortium developing Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz gas-condensate field in the Caspian Sea to deliver its gas to European markets. Both routes are part of the Southern Gas Corridor, a major energy project for the EU seeking to diversify routes and sources of supply.
In June 2012 the Shah Deniz consortium chose Nabucco West as the single pipeline option for the potential export of Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas to Central Europe. The final decision on the pipeline route to transport Azerbaijani gas to Europe is due to be made in June 2013.
The Nabucco project's current shareholders are Bulgarian Energy Holding, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas, Austrian OMV, German RWE and Hungary's FGSZ. Gas to be produced within the second phase of Shah Deniz development, which is expected to obtain first gas in 2018, is considered as the main source for the project.