All Pipelines Lead to Nabucco

Speaking at the Gas Infrastructure World Caspian 2010 Conference, Jeremy Ellis, Head of Business Development at RWE Supply & Trading, suggested that the Italy-Turkey-Greece Interconnector (ITGI) pipeline project effectively be connected (i.e. merged) with the Nabucco pipeline project.

"In this regard, ITGI could be a continuation of Nabucco in direction to Greece and Italy.  That would relieve ITGI from dependence on Turkish BOTAS’s decision to grant (or not to grant) its infrastructure to transport gas designed for ITGI across Turkish territory,” Ellis added.

“This will help bypass the internal gas transportation infrastructure of Turkey and save 20-25% on transit tariffs.”

Ellis stated that Nabucco, with the full backing of the EU, would have a diversified customer base while other pipeline projects in the Southern corridor such as ITGI and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), had big concentration risks.

Both RWE and BOTAS are both shareholders of the consortium developing the Nabucco pipeline project.