Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH to sign gas supply agreement with Azerbaijan by late 2010

The Nabucco gas pipeline consortium intends to sign agreements with gas suppliers for the pipeline, including Azerbaijan, by late 2010, Managing director of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International Reinhard Mitschek said.

He said the negotiations with financial institutions to finance this project are underway. The final investment decision on the project is expected to be taken in mid 2011 and to begin construction by late 2011.

Mitschek said there is enough gas to fill the pipeline enough, particularly, in the Caspian region.

"If the regional countries try, they could fill the pipeline with gas," Mitschek said.

Regarding the possibility of Azerbaijan's participation in the project as a shareholder, Mitschek noted that there are no negotiations on this subject. However, he did not rule out this possibility.

The first phase will deal with 10-15 billion cubic meters of gas to further bring it to the design capacity of 31 billion cubic meters.


/Trend/