Turkey Gives Support to Nabucco

Turkish state-run Botas has said that it supports the Nabucco pipeline, despite the project being rocked by doubts in recent weeks.

Speaking to Bloomberg via email today, director of strategy and business development for Botas Levent Ozgul said his company fully backed the Nabucco project.

"Botas and the Turkish Ministry of Natural Resources fully support it," he said today.

Mr. Ozgul also said that his company saw the Nabucco project as the natural continuation of the Trans Anatolian pipeline (TANAP), a project in which Botas holds a 10 per cent stake. SOCAR, the operator of TANAP holds an 80 per cent stake, while Turkey's TPAO holds the remaining 10 per cent stake.

"Turkey assumes that Nabucco West will be the natural continuation of Tanap," Bloomberg reports the director as saying.

Botas also holds one of six stakes in the Nabucco pipeline project, which continues to face issues. In recent months, the fate of the Nabucco project has been brought into doubt with two shareholders, MOL and RWE, expressing concerns about the project.

Last month, MOL said that it was considering selling its shares in the project following contnuing concerns over the financial aspects of the project. It also said that it was unwilling to finance the project any further.

This week, RWE said that it too was reviewing its participation in the project and whether its interests in the pipeline were still being preserved.

RWE, MOL and Botas each hold a 16.67 per cent stake each in the Nabucco project. Bulgarian Energy Holding, OMV and Transgaz hold the remaining shares, again at 16.67 per cent each.