Hungarian MOL remains important partner in Nabucco consortium

The Hungarian oil and gas firm MOL Nyrt (MOL.BU) remains an important consortium partner in the Nabucco gas pipeline project, Austrian oil and gas company OMV AG's (OMV.VI) Chief Executive Officer Gerhard Roiss said on Wednesday, Dow Jones Newswires reported.

"I welcome MOL as an important partner in the consortium. There is no written communication that indicates it is leaving (the consortium)," Roiss said.

Last month, MOL's CEO Zsolt Hernadi said MOL is ready to sell its share in the Nabucco implementing company if necessary and will withhold funding from the project firm.

Nabucco is one of the Southern Gas Corridor projects, designed to transport gas from the Caspian region and Middle East to the European countries. Gas to be produced within the second phase of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas field development is considered as the main source for the project.

Nabucco project's current shareholders are Bulgarian Energy Holding, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas, Austrian OMV, German RWE and Hungary's FGSZ. However earlier Hungarian MOL, which is a 100-percent owner of FGSZ stated that it is ready to sell its share in the project because of the uncertainties in Nabucco's gas source and financing issues.

"There is an intergovernmental agreement that has been signed by all of the countries in the consortium. It binds them to construction of the pipeline. I assume that in Europe what has been signed is respected," Roiss said.


/Trend/