Caspian-EU Gas Pipeline to be 10 Bcm
A senior executive of BP Plc. has said that the pipeline that will be built to transport natural gas from the Caspian basin to Europe will have a capacity of 10 billion cubic meters a year and be expandable.
The comments by Iain Conn, BP's chief executive for refining and marketing, suggest that the company, one of the main members of a consortium negotiating the sale of natural gas from an Azerbaijan gas field to Europe, might prefer a smaller pipeline to the much-talked-about Nabucco pipeline project, unless the 31 bcm project is redesigned and scaled down.
BP holds a 25.5% stake in the Shah Deniz consortium, which is being approached by three rival pipeline projects in order to secure supply for delivery to Europe. Shah Deniz II, the second development phase of a field offshore Azerbaijan, as early as 2017, is expected to provide 10 bcm per year in gas flow to Europe.
"We are going to build a 10 bcm line into Europe that's expandable," Conn said during a conference.
"We've got to stop being preoccupied by the word Nabucco," he said. Conn explained that at the moment, there aren't 31 bcm of gas in the Caspian.
The Nabucco pipeline project is competing with the Interconnector Turkey Greece Italy (ITGI) and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) in securing Central Asian gas viewed as crucial for the European Commission's priority of diversifying its energy supply from Russian sources.
Nabucco is heavily backed by the EU, which has recently floated suggestions about Nabucco cooperating with its competitors in an effort to secure the Shah Deniz supply.
ITGI, which is being developed by Italian utility Edison SpA and the Greek monopoly gas company DEPA, would carry about 10 bcm to southern Italy, the amount of gas that Conn stated Shah Deniz plans for exports to Europe.
TAP, which is being developed by Statoil ASA, Elektrizitats-Gesellschaft Laufenburg AG and E.ON AG, would also have a capacity of about 10 bcm with an option to double it.
The Nabucco consortium includes Germany's RWE AG and Austria's OMV AG.
BP and Statoil each hold a 25.5% stake in the Shah Deniz consortium. The State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan (Socar); OAO Lukoil Holdings, Total SA and National Iranian Oil Company all own 10% each, while Turkey's TPAO owns 9%.
Source: Newswires