EU's Piebalgs in Turkey Nabucco pipeline talks

04 November 2008 16:49  [Source: ICIS news]

PRAGUE (ICIS news)--EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs is to visit Turkey in a bid to unlock talks on the €8bn ($10.1bn) Nabucco natural gas pipeline project, his office said on Tuesday.

Piebalgs should arrive in Ankara tomorrow to demonstrate Europe's backing for the pipeline, designed to end the over-reliance of European companies - including many petrochemical and fertilizer firms - on Russian gas.

In return for allowing the 3,300-kilometre Nabucco route to traverse its territory, Turkey is demanding around 15% of its Caspian Sea region gas for itself on very generous terms, a source at Hungary's MOL, one of the would-be Nabucco investors, said.

So far, the EU has insisted Turkey should pay the standard transit fee.

The pipeline, running from the Caspian Sea region across Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary to Austria, should be realised by 2013.

As well as MOL, the investors behind it include Austria's OMV, Turkey's BOTAS, Bulgaria's Bulgargaz and Romania's Transgaz.

After his Turkey visit, Piebalgs would move on for talks with officials in Azerbaijan, one of the proposed Nabucco gas supply countries, his office added.

($1= €0.79)

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