14-06-08 Austria’s joining the project on construction of South Stream pipeline will not affect onward development of Nabucco project, of which operator is Austrian OMV Company.
During the St. Petersburg Economic Forum which took place in the beginning of June, Russia and Austria agreed to sign an inter-governmental agreement on Austria’s joining the South Stream pipeline being initiated by the Russian gas monopolist Gazprom and Italian ENI. According to the Deputy Chairman of Gazprom, Alexander Medvedev, the agreement will envisage appointing OMV as the co-ordinator of the project from the Austrian side, which will determine the structure of joint capital in the future joint venture with Gazprom which will transport gas up to Baumgarten.

“Nabucco project is priority No. 1 for Europe. OMV supports it at 100 %. But Austria’s talks on South Stream will not anyway affect the Nabucco project,” Christian Dolezal, the Austrian OMV company’s representative for international projects and Nabucco, told on 13 June. According to Dolezal, the European gas market needs more than one project on pipeline construction.
“In future the gas demand in Europe will increase, and at that time, the internal production will fall. Therefore, the gas market needs huge investments for gas transportation infrastructure,” he said.

According to the forecasts of the Italian Edison gas company, by 2013 the gas demand in Europe will grow by 12-14 % and make up 638 bn cm. Gas demand in Europe will increase up to 720 bn cm, Europe’s dependence on gas import will increase up to 68 % by 2020. Totalling $ 12.4 bn (EUR 7.8 bn), from 2013 Nabucco will transport gas from Azerbaijan and Central Asia to the EU. The parties to the project are Austrian OMV, Hungarian MOL, Bulgarian Bulgargaz, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish BOTAS and German RWE, each owning 16.67 %.

According to Dolezal, South Stream and Nabucco are not competitive projects.
“Like gas market of Europe, we are also interested that South Stream passes via gas hub of OMV in Baumgarten for its strengthening,” Dolezal said.
South Stream pipeline is envisaged for natural gas transit and supply to Balkans and other European countries from Russia via water area of the Black Sea, beginning from 2013.