Report: Nabucco Could Be Dropped by June

The Nabucco project could be shelved for good by the end of June, a report by Russian media outlet ITAR-TASS has said.

Citing a number of unnamed industry analysts, the news agency said the decision to drop the pipeline as a contender for Shah Deniz-2 gas supply would be made by late June.

The Nabucco pipeline has in recent times faced a number of setbacks, including comments from BP chief of marketing and refining Iain Conn last week who said the revised Nabucco West pipeline route was now under consideration for the route, instead of the "classic" Nabucco.

A spokesman for BP Tony Odone also told the EUObserver that the project was not under consideration.

"To all intents and purposes it isn't going to happen," he said. "It's just not in the frame … When Nabucco was first planned it talked about multiple sources coming together. That just hasn't happened."

However, operator of the Shah Deniz-2 field SOCAR yesterday said that no definitive decision had been made either way on the Nabucco pipeline and said Mr. Conn's comments were BP's private opinion.

"For us Nabucco is still an option because the proposed alternative Trans Anatolian (TANAP) pipeline through Turkey is so far just a concept," deputy head of SOCAR Elshad Nassirov said yesterday.