Sponsored by   Mudabala
 
 
Advanced Search
BETA
Loading Loading ...
Wed, 10 Feb 2010 | 07:56 GMT
Wed, Feb 10, 2010, 07:56 GMT
 

Consortium Seeks Gas

 Iran Daily
 
Email
Print
Comment
PDF
Share
Text Size  
 
11 July 2009
Many western experts have questioned the Nabucco pipelines ability to secure sufficient upstream gas supplies without Iran.

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 goes on stream 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, AFP reported.

However, such a signing has already been delayed several times.

Diversification
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.

Mitschek stressed that Nabucco's role is only to transport the gas and the eventual decision whether to buy Iranian gas will be made by European buyers.

The United States has repeatedly voiced opposition to Iranian involvement in the pipeline, but US companies have no direct stake in the project. However, the US could penalize companies involved in Nabucco through its Iran Sanctions Act.

European Union's reliance on Russian gas has hardly been risk-free. Pricing disputes between Russia and Ukraine have cut off natural-gas supplies to Europe for weeks every winter since 2006, forcing the EU to look for alternatives.

In January, the European Commission pledged to provide 250 million euros ($353 million) for the new pipeline project.

Initially, Nabucco plans to draw from gas fields in northern Iraq, Azerbaijan and elsewhere in Central Asia. But it has yet to secure commitments from these suppliers.

Most of Azerbaijan's natural-gas supply already ends up in Turkey, leaving little to be passed on to Europe. And Russia, whose proposed South Stream pipeline would serve essentially the same market as Nabucco, has already signed several deals in Central Asia to buy up natural-gas supplies in an apparent effort to short-circuit Nabucco.

The $8 billion deal recently signed by the Nabucco consortium with the Kurds of northern Iraq, which would have supplied natural gas, was vetoed by Iraq's oil minister, who said Iraq's Constitution did not allow the Kurds to negotiate oil deals independently. The deal also drew strong criticism from Turkey, which faces its own Kurdish separatists and fears the oil revenue would fuel Iraqi Kurds' aspirations for an independent state.

Iranian Involvement
Russian officials have stated that in order for Nabucco to be viable, it would have to involve Iranian gas. Many western experts have also questioned the pipeline's ability to secure sufficient upstream gas supplies without Iran.

"They definitely need more sources," said Mamuka Tsereteli, a specialist on Eurasia and energy policy at American University in Washington.

Tsereteli said Nabucco is also hampered by the lack of a large stakeholder to take the lead in securing supply deals.

"The key problem with Nabucco always was to have a committed buyer and a committed supplier," he said.

Nonetheless, officials in the countries involved in Nabucco are optimistic.

"I think the likelihood of Nabucco being realized is increasing, not decreasing," said Temuri Yakobashvili, executive director of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Tbilisi.

Yakobashvili also serves as Georgia's minister for reintegration. "We have no doubt Russia is trying to undermine the Nabucco project. At the end of the day with the combination of political and economic leverage when Russia is being so openly aggressive, countries should be alerted," he said.

If Nabucco unravels, the European Union has another alternative--White Stream, which is currently gathering funds for a second stage of feasibility studies.

White Stream would run from Azerbaijan through Georgia and under the Black Sea to Central Europe through Romania and Ukraine. It would not involve Iran.

Although the governments of Georgia and Ukraine have been lobbying heavily for investment in White Stream, experts are skeptical the project will come to fruition.

Cohen said White Stream was nothing more than a trial balloon to speed up Nabucco.

© Iran Daily 2009

 
x DISCLAIMER

Zawya is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties and subscribers. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by those third parties, including information providers, subscribers or other users of the Service, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of the Company. The Company neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on the Service by anyone other than authorized Service employee spokespersons while acting in their official capacities. The Company is not responsible for any infringement of intellectual property rights or breach of any applicable law or regulation, including regulation in relation to financial services or the distribution of financial products, defamation, data protection, telecommunications (including regulations relating to excessive use, spamming or other abusive activities) or obscene, offensive or illegal content). Under no circumstances will the Company be liable for any loss or damage caused by a member's reliance on information obtained through the Service. It is the responsibility of member to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through the Service. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.

Read the full Member Agreement
http://www.zawya.com/legal/NewsLetter.cfm?name=disclaimer
 
 
Access to this article is subject to specific terms and conditions. Read Disclaimer.
 
 
 
Community Comments (0) - Comment on this article
The opinions of the authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect Zawya. Read our Comment Policy.
 
 
 
Loading ...
 
close x
Report Abuse
Loading ...
 
 
Loading ...
close x
Zawya Comment Policy:
 
  1. Zawya encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You agree that when you add content to this discussion your comments will not:
    1.1   Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
    1.2   Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
    1.3   Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
    1.4   Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
    1.5   Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
    1.6   Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
    1.7   Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.
  2. The content posted on www.zawya.com is created by members of the public. The views expressed are theirs and unless specifically stated are not those of Zawya. Zawya reserves the right to review all comments prior to posting and edit or delete any contribution, but Zawya is not responsible for and can not be held liable for any content posted by members of the public on www.zawya.com.
  3. Zawya is not responsible for the availability or content of any third party sites that are accessible through www.zawya.com. Any links to third party websites from www.zawya.com do not amount to any endorsement of that site by Zawya and any use of that site by you is at your own risk.
  4. By submitting your comment, you hereby give Zawya the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comments worldwide, in perpetuity.
 
 
 
 
 
Community Buzz

Stories

 

Companies

Most viewed companies by Community in the last 24 hrs
Company Name Country Industry
Consolidated Contractors Company Overseas Construction and Design
Zuhair Fayez Partnership Consultants Saudi Arabia Construction and Design
Saudi Binladin Group Saudi Arabia Construction and Design
Saudi Electricity Company Saudi Arabia Electric Utilities
Saudi Telecom Saudi Arabia Telecommunications Services
Barwa Real Estate Company Qatar Landlords and Developers
Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company UAE Oil
Ministry of Health - Kuwait Kuwait Ministries and Municipalities
Ministry of Health - Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia Ministries and Municipalities
Roads and Transport Authority - Dubai UAE Regulatory and Administrative Bodies
 

Projects

 

Blogs

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Site is optimised for viewing at 1024 x 768 with Internet Explorer v6 and Firefox v3.0 and above.
Copyright © 2010 ABQ Zawya Ltd. All rights reserved. Please read our Membership Agreement