Baumgarten Blues: Shah Deniz II Turns Down Nabucco West Pipeline

The Nabucco West project was rejected by Shah Deniz II consortium, writes a note released by OMV on Wednesday, paving the way to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) to carry Azerbaijan's natural gas to Europe.

"The Nabucco West project was not selected by the consortium," reads the note, referring to the decision by the BP-led consortium, which will transport 10 billion cubic meters of gas annually to the European Union.

The decision was confirmed in a subsequent media briefing by OMV Chief Executive Gerhard Roiss.

TAP, that would run through Greece and Albania to Italy, is fronted by Statoil, AXPO and E.ON Ruhrgas. Nabucco West would run from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to the vicinity of the gas hub at Baumgarten near Vienna, Austria. The pipeline would pass through Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary before it reaches Austria. The Nabucco shareholders are Bulgarian Energy Holding (Bulgaria), Botas (Turkey), FGSZ1 (Hungary), OMV (Austria) and Transgaz (Romania).

OMV wrote that it accepts the decision of the consortium, while looking at alternative ways to secure and diversify gas supplies to Europe.

"While OMV accepts the decision of the consortium, OMV is of the opinion that the offer which was submitted by NGPI (Nabucco Gas Pipeline International) met all the selection criteria and was highly competitive," reads the note, adding that the decision does not influence OMV’s strategy of growing upstream and integrated gas. 

TAP did not address the OMV comments, stating: "We will await the final Shah Deniz announcement on Friday"