وارطان داوتیان

11:48 • 05.08.10
An agreement that will support the realization of Nabucco gas pipeline project is expected to be signed in Ankara in August by the ministers of the participant countries - Turkey, Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, reports Azerbaijani news agency APA, citing Turkish sources.

The signing ceremony was scheduled for July 30, but then the date was changed due to working schedules of the ministers. The Turkish newspapers said supply problems were expected to be resolved this year and financial issues - in first months of 2011.
Nabucco shareholders are negotiating the gas supply issues with Azerbaijan, Iraq, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. If the negotiations succeed, the pipeline extension will be enlarged from 3 300 km to 4 000 km, which will cause 10% boost in pipeline costs.
Nabuccois expected to carry the Caspian gas to the Central Europe via Turkey and Balkans. The shareholders of the company are OMV (Austria), MOL (Hungary), Transgaz (Romania), Bulgargaz (Bulgaria), BOTAS (Turkey), RWE (Germany). Each of the shareholders holds 16.67% of the shares.
The shareholders will meet 1/3 of the project expenses and other part will be funded by the financial-credit organizations. Total investment cost of the project was increased from €4.6 billion to €7.9 billion ($12.3 billion). The pipeline is expected to be operational by 2013 and it will carry 31 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.

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