Nabucco Pipeline Future Uncertain

Joschka Fischer's Phantom Projekt, die 

Nabucco Pipeline Future Uncertain

Sofia | 28 January 2010 |
 

The pipeline will be of great regional importance

The future of the Nabucco pipeline project is still not certain, an executive of Austrian energy giant OMV told reporters on Wednesday. Between July and October 2010, an open season bidding process for transport capacity in the planned pipeline will be held. The future of the project will then be assessed against the resulting forecasted demand, Novinite reported.

"We will start the open season process this year, then we will either get enough demand or we won't," said Werner Auli, OMV's head of oil and gas, speaking at the annual European Gas Conference in Vienna. He added that he was optimistic about the level of demand.

However, pointing out that he represented a commercial organization, and not an institution, Auli said the decision would be made on pragmatic business terms. If the demand turned out to be insufficient, the project would be terminated, he said.
"If not, Nabucco will not be built, this is very simple. We are a commercial company, we are not an institution," he stated.

Besides OMV, Bulgaria's Bulgargaz, Turkey's Botas, Germany's RWE, Hungary's MOL and Romania's Transgaz are all partners in the EU-backed project, which would reduce European reliance on Russian gas supplies.

The pipeline, skirting around Russian soil, would bring gas from the Middle East and the Caspian region to Europe. Russian gas pipeline export monopoly Gazprom also has a rival project, South Stream, with several international cooperation memoranda already signed.

NABUCCO, die Gas-OPEC und die Konturen des Neuen Kalten Krieges ( 1 2 3)

Aus russischer Sicht kann der Bau Nabuccos ruhig erfolgen. Vladimir Putin sagte einmal, dass er nichts dagegen habe, "wenn Europäer ihr Geld unbedingt in Sand setzen wollen". Durch fehlende Garantien der Rentabilität muss die Finanzierung auch immer mehr auf Staatskassen verlegt werden, da private Investoren verständlicherweise einen immer größeren Bogen um das Projekt machen. Wenn sich Europa erst die Finger mit einem Fiasko-Projekt verbrennen muss, um zu verstehen, was es an Russland als Lieferanten hat und wie verfehlt seine Energie-Außenpolitik ist, dann muss es eben so sein... Bis dahin kann es Nabucco, wie der österreichische Politologe Gerhard Mangott es ausdrückte, aber immerhin als "Showcase" gebrauchen.

http://derunbequeme.blogspot.com/2009/07/der-dumme-zahlt-zweimal.html