Reinhard Mitschek: Nabucco is a European, not an anti-Russian project

The detailed planning of Nabucco will be carried out by five engineering companies from all countries participating in the project, Mr Reinhard Mitschek, Managing Director of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH, said.

In the coming months an environmental impact assessment procedure will be initiated. The final investment decision for the project will be taken in the end of 2010, he announced. Mitschek was positive that the gas demand in Europe will increase significantly in the future, so Nabucco should not be perceived as competition for South Stream.

He explained that Nabucco was not an anti-Russian, but a European project for gas diversification. Nabucco will be supplied with 16 billion cubic meters annually from the Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan, but this is yet to be contracted, Mitschek informed. Shareholders OMV and MOL acquired stakes in a big gas field in Iraq that will supply about 10 billion cubic meters annually for Europe, he added.

RWE has also obtained shares in a gas field at Turkmenistan’s coastline that could eventually supply gas for Nabucco. Mitschek was positive that Nabucco’s capacity could reach 31 billion cubic meters annually until 2020.

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