Nabucco pipeline

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The Nabucco pipeline project envisaged the construction of a pipeline that would carry natural gas from Azerbaijan to close to Baumgarten an der March in Austria , where OMV's central distribution center for natural gas is located. After Azerbaijan and Turkey concluded an agreement on the Trans-Anatolian pipeline in 2012 , the project was reduced to "Nabucco-West". The natural gas was to be taken over by “Nabucco-West” on the Bulgarian-Turkish border and transported to Baumgarten through Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. Although the EU has strongly supported the project since 2002, there was no agreement among the participating states. When the Shah Denis consortium decided in 2013 to use the Transadriatic Pipeline (TAP) to connect Turkey and southern Italy via Greece and Albania, this project was finally discontinued.

Detailed route of the Nabucco West Pipeline

background

The pipeline should connect the EU with the Caspian natural gas reserves (possibly also with the Turkmen , Egyptian and Iraqi reserves ) and thus open up new gas sources for Europe. In the EU program Trans-European Networks , the pipeline is considered one of the five most important projects in the expansion of the European power transmission network and was therefore nominated in 2013 as a "Project of Common Interest". Originally the pipeline was supposed to start in the east of Turkey, but its route was reduced several times and most recently envisaged the Turkish-Bulgarian border as a starting point as Nabucco-West.

The original Nabucco project was supposed to cost around 15 billion euros , one third of which was to be raised by the operator consortium itself and two thirds through loans. The costs of the Nabucco West Pipeline have not been officially announced, but due to the shorter route they should be significantly lower.

The start of construction has been postponed several times. The construction of the pipeline should begin (according to the latest status) in 2015 and be completed in 2019.

On June 26, 2013, OMV announced ad hoc that the international gas source consortium Shah Deniz II would not transport any gas via the Nabucco. Instead, the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) has apparently been awarded the contract. Nabucco is therefore considered to have failed overall. The bid for the cheaper to build (but ending in southern Italy) TAP was an economic decision, also in order to be able to better supply Albania, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. OMV boss Gerhard Roiss : “The official argument against Nabucco was the better price on the natural gas markets in southern Italy and Greece. To what extent this is a fig leaf for political arguments, I cannot judge. "

Companies

Shareholder in the Nabucco pipeline
heading Head office proportion of
BEH BulgariaBulgaria Bulgaria 20%
BOTAŞ TurkeyTurkey Turkey 20%
MOL
(via FGSZ Földgázszállító Zrt.) 		HungaryHungary Hungary 20%
OMV AustriaAustria Austria 20%
Transgaz RomaniaRomania Romania 20%

route

The originally planned route of the Nabucco pipeline

The originally planned, 3900 km long route of the pipeline led from the Turkish-Georgian border to Baumgarten an der March in Austria . In May 2012, the Nabucco Consortium presented the Shah Deniz Consortium with an offer for “Nabucco West” in which a shortened version of the pipeline was presented. This variant would have transported the gas from the Bulgarian-Turkish border through Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary over a total distance of 1329 kilometers to Baumgarten in Austria. The gas could theoretically have been transported to all other European countries via the Central European Gas Hub there.

country kilometre
Bulgaria 424
Romania 475
Hungary 383
Austria 47

At the end of June 2012, the Shah Deniz consortium announced that it had chosen Nabucco West as the preferred pipeline route to Central Europe. The environmental permit process was completed in August 2012 for Hungary and in May 2013 for Bulgaria . Since January 2013, the technical pre-planning (front-end engineering design), which the Italian company Saipem was working on, was in progress .

motivation

The background to the project was the EU's political desire to diversify natural gas sources, above all in order to limit the supremacy of the main supplier Gazprom ; In 2010, Russia supplied almost 25 percent of Europe's gas requirements. In 2007, the EU consumed around 475 billion cubic meters of natural gas. In 2012, based on estimates by the European Commission , in the worst case (failure to achieve its own climate and energy efficiency targets) , the demand until 2030 was given as around 575 billion cubic meters. On the other hand, there is a decline in in-house production in Europe itself. The EU's import requirements are therefore likely to grow strongly in the specified period. The development of new natural gas sources is therefore an important contribution to Europe's energy security.

In addition, the pipeline would also have diversified gas transport routes - bypassing Russia and Ukraine. Gas from Nabucco-West was supposed to cover 50% of the gas requirements of Austria , Hungary , Romania and Bulgaria , thereby creating diversification and promoting competition, especially in Southeastern Europe and the Balkans , where there has long been a high dependency on individual suppliers (e.g. Gazprom ) prevails.

history

The project was initiated in 2002 by the Austrian OMV AG. In addition to OMV Gas & Power GmbH, the owners are the national companies FGSZ (wholly owned subsidiary of MOL ) from Hungary , Transgaz from Romania , Bulgargaz-Holding EAD from Bulgaria and BOTAŞ Petroleum Pipeline Corporation from Turkey. The decision for a further sixth partner was made in February 2008 in favor of RWE from Germany. The corresponding contract was signed on February 5, 2008 in Vienna . Until then, each of the parties involved held a 20% stake in Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH ; since then it has been 16.67% per shareholder. For the shareholders RWE and OMV, the former Federal Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer worked as a political advisor for the project.

After the first meeting of the consortium, the participants went to the Vienna State Opera to see Giuseppe Verdi's opera “ Nabucco ”. At the dinner that followed, those present voted for Nabucco in their search for a name for their project .

Planned gas pipelines: Nabucco-West in dashed line (as of December 2014)

After the Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute , the European Union wanted to push ahead with the construction of the Nabucco pipeline. At an international conference on the pipeline project on January 27, 2009 in Budapest , the Czech Prime Minister and EU Council President, Mirek Topolánek , spoke out in favor of a speedy agreement between the governments of the countries involved. The President of the European Investment Bank Philippe Maystadt stated that his institute could provide around 25 percent of the 7.9 billion euros required for the project. The President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development would also consider participation.

On July 13, 2009, government representatives from the five participating states signed the agreement on the construction of the pipeline in the Turkish capital Ankara. The parties involved undertook to a. not to hinder the passage of natural gas. This should prevent delivery interruptions such as in the gas dispute.

In May 2011, EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger confirmed a significant increase in costs for the planned Nabucco gas pipeline; their costs would rise from the previously estimated 7.9 billion to 12 to 15 billion euros. The consortium called these numbers speculation in June 2011, but announced that projected completion of the pipeline would be delayed for another two years to 2017.

On June 8, 2011, Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH and the responsible ministries in the individual transit countries signed so-called Project Support Agreements (PSAs). The main tasks of the PSAs should be to ensure a stable transit regime within the meaning of EU law, to protect the Nabucco pipeline from disadvantageous changes in the law and to support the authorities and legislators for the further implementation of the project. The PSAs and the intergovernmental agreement are still valid in all transit countries, including Nabucco-West.

Although the final construction decision was expected for 2011, Stephan Kohler, head of the German Energy Agency (Dena), and Claudia Kemfert , energy expert at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), described the project in October 2011 at a video conference with Russian energy experts as failed. The chairman of the steering committee continued to see “good opportunities for implementation” and announced a decision on gas supplies by the operators of the Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan for July 2012 .

In December 2011, Worley Parsons was appointed new general engineer by Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH after this position had been given to the British company Penspen in early January 2008.

In January 2012, TÜV Nord was commissioned to look for EPC contract partners for planning, procurement and construction and to advise the companies involved in preparing the prequalification documents.

In May 2012, a spokesman for BP said that there was no way the pipeline would exist as originally planned. According to the BP manager Conn, the pipeline is 31 billion cubic meters too big, so that 20 billion would be empty and would have to be subsidized by RWE or the EU.

In May 2012, the Nabucco consortium presented the Shah Deniz consortium with an offer for “Nabucco West”, a shortened pipeline variant compared to the original concept. On June 28, 2012, this project, which was reduced to the route from the Turkish-Bulgarian border, was awarded the contract by the Shah Deniz consortium for the route through Southeast and Eastern Europe. The Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) was intended for gas transport within Turkey . The competing project “South East Europe Pipeline” (SEEP) initiated by BP was thus eliminated, just like the original version of the Nabucco pipeline. A decision between Nabucco-West and the Transadriatic Pipeline (TAP), which runs via Greece through the Adriatic to Italy, was announced for June 2013.

In January 2013, all Nabucco shareholders signed a cooperation and stock options agreement with the Shah Deniz consortium. This states that BP, Total, Statoil and SOCAR can acquire a total of 50% of the shares in Nabucco after the positive decision in favor of Nabucco-West.

At the beginning of March 2013, RWE sold its Nabucco shares to OMV, which intended to pass them on. In addition to OMV, the project is also supported by energy companies from Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey.

At the end of May 2013 it was announced that the French energy supply company GDF Suez had signed a share purchase agreement with OMV, which states that GDF Suez would take over a share of around 9% in Nabucco.

The end of June 2013 came to an end for the project, as Azerbaijan had decided on the competing TAP project. However, OMV announced that it was examining the alternative of single-handedly building the pipeline from the Black Sea to Austria and using it to transport gas it produced itself. The planning costs of around 50 million euros would not be lost in this case.

business

As a logistics project, Nabucco West was supposed to provide the technical and logistical infrastructure for gas transporters ("shippers"), but not to buy gas themselves. The gas transporters would have had to decide for themselves where they wanted to get the gas from and also had to sign the relevant supply contracts. For its part, the Nabucco company should conclude transport contracts with the relevant transport customers.

Nabucco-West was planned to be around 1,329 km long and around 1.22 m in diameter. A total of around 770,000 tons of steel would have been required for the pipes laid for this.

After completion of the first construction phase, the plans of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH should begin with an initial delivery capacity of eight to ten billion cubic meters per year. As a result, the market should help determine the rate of expansion to the maximum technical capacity of around 23 billion cubic meters per year.

The first deliveries were supposed to come from Azerbaijan, beyond that there were no delivery commitments. However, since Azerbaijan had sold part of its gas reserves (especially from the largest Shah Deniz gas field) to Russia at the end of June 2009, the chances of realizing Nabucco had decreased. According to the experts, Azerbaijan could only have contributed 4 billion of the necessary 30 billion cubic meters. According to some analysts, gas production in Azerbaijan could increase to up to 60 billion cubic meters per year by 2040.

The feed-in of Turkmen, Iraqi and, above all, Iranian gas was also discussed, although its availability is questionable soon. In addition, these are predominantly politically unstable regimes with which, as in the case of Iran, cooperation currently hardly seems possible for political reasons. In addition, Turkmenistan has already contractually guaranteed large quantities of its future production to Russia and China . The Turkmen President described his country's reserves as large enough to serve all interested parties; However, experts are not so sure. In May 2013, Turkish President Abdullah Gül said Turkey was ready to bring gas from Turkmenistan to Europe and support the construction of an alternative pipeline.

Turkey's position

Turkey sees Nabucco as a welcome instrument to force its EU membership. In January 2009, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called for EU accession negotiations to be accelerated and for the first time brought them directly into contact with Nabucco. Should the negotiations fail, Turkey would consider the Nabucco project "at risk".

In order to be able to ensure the utilization of the pipeline and thus the supply of natural gas to Europe, Turkey in particular operated the acquisition of additional supplier countries. So she sat u. a. for Iran and the Emirate of Qatar as additional suppliers, making use of their neighborly contacts in the Middle East.

In December 2011, Turkey and Azerbaijan signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” for the development of a Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP), which is to run from the Georgian-Turkish border to the Turkish-Bulgarian border and has been under construction since March 2015. Also at the end of 2011, Turkey and Gazprom representatives signed an agreement on the construction permit for the South Stream pipeline, which was not implemented. The project was discontinued in early December 2014.

In March 2013, TANAP and Nabucco also signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” and officially agreed to collaborate on the development of the southern gas corridor.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Iron ore makes nabucco more and more expensive , RIA Novosti, Moscow, February 21, 2011
  2. ^ European gas pipeline costs double , Guardian, UK, February 20, 2011.
  3. ↑ Ali Uluçay: Nabucco pipeline to cost only 4 billion US dollars , November 16, 2012.
  4. ↑ Zoe Schneeweiss: OMV Says Construction of Nabucco Pipe May Start in 2015 , May 10, 2012.
  5. ↑ a b APA.az: Nabucco West project to meet 50% of demand of Bulgaria, Romania, Austria anda Hungary for gas ( Memento of the original from January 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked . Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , June 5, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / en.apa.az
  6. ^ "Nabucco" pipeline failed - heavy blow for OMV , ORF.at of June 26, 2013.
  7. ^ "Nabucco": defeat for OMV and EU , ORF.at of June 27, 2013
  8. ↑ In the long term, gas demand will increase. Interview: Claudia Haase. In: Kleine Zeitung, print from July 1, 2013, p. 22.
  9. ↑ Der Standard: New West Variation for Nabucco , May 17, 2012.
  10. ↑ Michael Kaczmarek: Shah Deniz II: "Nabucco West" won , June 28, 2012.
  11. ^ Wirtschaftsblatt: Clear the way for Nabucco in Hungary ( Memento of August 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), July 14, 2012.
  12. ↑ Wirtschaftsblatt: Nabucco operator assigns preliminary planning for gas pipeline  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , January 28, 2013.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link /wirtschaftsblatt.at  
  13. ↑ Oliver Geden: Security of Supply - Even Without New Gas Lines , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , August 3, 2010.
  14. ↑ Eon and RWE can hope for cheaper gas , Handelsblatt dated June 21, 2012.
  15. ↑ Information about shareholders and quotas on the company's website ( memento of the original of July 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nabucco-pipeline.com
  16. ↑ "Fischer becomes a lobbyist for the Nabucco pipeline", tagesschau.de of July 6, 2009 ( Memento of July 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  17. ↑ Project page: Frequently asked questions, point 15 ( Memento from June 1, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  18. ^ Nabucco pipeline: contract is signed. In: DiePresse.com. July 12, 2009. Retrieved January 17, 2018 .
  19. ↑ EU wants to promote the Nabucco gas pipeline quickly. Netzeitung , January 27, 2009, archived from the original on September 6, 2012 ; Retrieved July 20, 2009 .
  20. ^ Nabucco pipeline: Europe is emancipating itself from Russian gas . Spiegel Online . Retrieved July 20, 2009.
  21. ↑ Dow Jones : Oettinger: Nabucco costs 12 to 15 billion EUR  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , May 9, 2011.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.dowjones.de  
  22. ^ FAZ: Clear the way for Nabucco in Hungary , May 6, 2011.
  23. ↑ Der Standard: Pipeline project is still supported , June 1, 2013.
  24. ↑ Trend.az: Nabucco West legal and regulatory framework confirmed , January 15, 2013
  25. ↑ Trend.az: Romania ratifies Nabucco Project Support Agreement , March 14, 2013
  26. ↑ money.oe24.at: EconGas senses renewed demand , November 5, 2010, accessed on January 20, 2011.
  27. ^ Mathias Brüggmann: Gas project: Nabucco project has failed , handelsblatt.com, October 6, 2011, accessed on January 5, 2012.
  28. ↑ Derstandard.at: Nabucco expects a final decision by July , January 25, 2012, accessed on February 18, 2012.
  29. ^ Wiener Zeitung: Nabucco wants to reach an agreement with gas suppliers by summer , January 25, 2012, accessed on February 18, 2012.
  30. ↑ nabucco-pipeline.com: Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH has appointed WorleyParsons as the new general engineer (Owner's Engineer)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.nabucco-pipeline.com   , December 21, 2011, accessed January 5, 2012.
  31. ↑ http://www.stromvergleich.de/gasvergleich/gasnachrichten/5236-gas-pipeline-nabucco-erhaelt-hilfe-vom-tuev-31-1-2012 .
  32. ^ A b Daniel Wetzel: Death certificate for Nabucco. In: Welt online. May 25, 2012, accessed on May 25, 2012 : "The original version of the classic Nabucco pipeline is off the table for us."
  33. ↑ Azerbaijan chooses Nabucco in the gas final. In: DiePresse.com. June 28, 2012, accessed January 18, 2018 .
  34. ↑ faz.net: Azerbaijan delivers gas to Europe , June 28, 2012, accessed on June 29, 2012.
  35. ↑ derstandard.at: Caspian pipeline gas for Europe (graphic), June 21, 2012, accessed on June 29, 2012.
  36. ^ Die Presse: Nabucco: Contracts for Cooperation signed , January 18, 2013.
  37. ↑ RWE sold shares in the “Nabucco” gas pipeline to OMV , ORF.at dated April 14, 2013.
  38. ↑ Die Presse: OMV sells a nine percent stake in Nabucco , May 28, 2013.
  39. ^ Nabucco: OMV pipeline project failed in Die Presse on June 26, 2013, accessed on June 26, 2013.
  40. ↑ Race for gas: OMV's Nabucco project failed in the standard of June 26, 2013, accessed on June 26, 2013.
  41. ↑ Die Presse: Nabucco has bad cards in gas poker , June 10, 2009.
  42. ↑ Thomas Seibert: Desperately looking for a gas supplier , Der Tagesspiegel , July 10, 2009.
  43. ↑ Platts : Azerbaijan's gas output to double by 2021 on Caspian offshore projects: expert , June 6, 2013.
  44. ↑ Oliver Geden, Andreas Goldthau: Phantom debate about the Nabucco pipeline. Financial Times Deutschland , November 30, 2008, archived from the original on December 2, 2008 ; Retrieved March 1, 2009 .
  45. ↑ RIA Novosti : Turkmenistan will pump 1.2 trillion m³ of gas to China over 30 years , June 24, 2009.
  46. ^ Marat Gurt: Turkey ready to deliver Turkmen natural gas to Europe , May 30, 2013.
  47. ↑ "Erdogan wants a faster accession process - otherwise the Nabucco pipeline would be endangered"  ( page can no longer be accessed , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , The standard .@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / derstandard.at  
  48. ↑ "Turkey is haggling over gas from Qatar for Nabucco" , DiePresse.com .
  49. ↑ "Iran negotiates about participation" ( Memento of the original from January 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , South German . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sueddeutsche.de
  50. ↑ handelsblatt.com: South Stream: Turkey and Russia agree on building permit , December 28, 2011, accessed January 5, 2012.
  51. ↑ Simone Brunner: Letter of Intent between Nabucco and Baku ( memento of March 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), March 4, 2013