Reinhard Mitschek, managing director of the Nabucco gas pipeline consortium, has said the first gas should flow to Europe in 2015.
“Nabucco’s progress has been very positive so far," Reinhard Mitschek said in a statement today.
"This year saw the start of the Environmental & Social Impact Assessment with the first round of public hearings; a mandate letter was signed with the EIB, EBRD and IFC and starts the appraisal process for a potential financing of up to four billion euros; and we finalized the prequalification process for suppliers of long-lead items," Mitschek said.
He was optimistic about the timescale for Nabucco too.
"The Final Investment Decision is expected to be taken in 2011 and we expect construction to start in 2012, first gas to flow in 2015, depending on the availability of sources. Nabucco will have a technical transport capacity of 31 billion cubic metres per year. We expect considerable quantities from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iraq.”
The statement made no mention of criticism over the failure to secure guaranteed sources of gas for the pipeline so far.
"Each day that passes is to the disadvantage of the project,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the end of September.
The consortium describes Nabucco as "the new gas bridge from Asia to Europe".
It will directly connect the world’s richest gas regions - the Caspian region and the Middle East - to the European consumer markets. The pipeline will link the Eastern border of Turkey to Baumgarten in Austria - one of the most important gas turntables in Central Europe - via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.
News.Az
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