Nabucco: MOL Stake May Be Diluted
A spokesperson for the Nabucco pipeline consortium has said that MOL's stake in the pipeline may be diluted if the company does not wish to advance any more capital for the project.
Speaking to Bloomberg News, Sorin Keszeg said that MOL, which has previously stated that it is considering withdrawing from the project, may reassess its position based on the support of the Shah Deniz partners; otherwise its stake would be diluted into the consortium.
"Nabucco’s board of directors will meet in Vienna next week to decide on the capital increase, aimed at securing the financing needed to go ahead with the project," Bloomberg reports Mr. Keszeg as saying said. "MOL may reconsider its position on the planned capital increase, since Shah Deniz partners said they favor Nabucco. If MOL doesn't, its stake will be diluted."
In April this year, MOL said that it was considering selling its stake in the six-shareholder project over concerns about the financing of the project.
"We have signalled that we are ready to sell our shares if necessary...," MOL Chairman Zsolt Hernadi said at the time. "We merely had to send a very very strong signal now that we are not willing to finance this any longer."
Financing of the Nabucco pipeline was also revealed to be the primary concern of BP today, with CEO Bob Dudley saying that a decision on the successful Shah Deniz pipeline would be made in fiscal terms.
"The rationale for the decision...will be purely economic," the Dow Jones news agency reported him as saying today. He also said that a decision on the chosen pipeline could be expected for the second quarter of next year.
BP is the operator of the Shah Deniz field, a massive Azeri gas field which is in the process of deciding between the Nabucco West pipeline and the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) for the supply of the gas.
MOL is one of six shareholders in the Nabucco pipeline consortium with each holding a 16.67 per cent stake. OMV, Transgaz, Bulgarian Energy Holding, Botas and RWE hold the other five stakes.