The Nabucco gas pipeline is a 3,300 km gas pipeline. It can be used to deliver fuel from Azerbaijan and Central Asia to the EU countries. Nabucco is a gas pipeline that was supposed to supply primarily Germany and Austria. Its name comes from the work of the same name by the famous composer Giuseppe Verdi. The main theme of his opera is liberation, which was supposed to be facilitated by the new fuel supply line to Europe.
Project history
The beginning of the development of a new highway began in February 2002 under the name "Nabucco". The gas pipeline was originally the subject of negotiations between two companies: the Austrian OMV and the Turkish BOTAS. Later they were joined by four more: Hungarian, German, Bulgarian and Romanian. Together they signed a protocol of their intentions. At the end of 2003, after calculating the necessary costsThe European Commission provided a grant of 50% of the total. After the initial development of the project, the partners signed the final agreement. In June 2008, the first fuel was delivered from Azerbaijan to Bulgaria through the Nabucco gas pipeline.
The strategic importance of the project
In the winter of 2009, the EU once again realized their catastrophic energy dependence on the Russian Federation. As a result of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, residents of some European countries found themselves without heat in their homes. At the beginning of 2010, a summit was held in Budapest, the main issue of which was the Nabucco gas pipeline. Its main task was to diversify fuel flows. In July, a special intergovernmental agreement was signed by five prime ministers.
Also, the EU, represented by President M. Barroso and Commissioner for Energy A. Piebalgs, acted as interested parties in the project, and the United States was represented by Envoy for Eurasian Energy R. Morningsar and Minister of Foreign Affairs Committee Senator R. Lugar. Hungary ratified the agreement on October 20, 2009, Bulgaria on February 3, 2010, and Turkey on March 4, 2010. The Nabucco gas pipeline received additional support with the publication of an additional intergovernmental agreement between all the states involved in it.
Current State
In May 2012, the Shah Deniz consortium made a new proposal - the Nabucco-West gas pipeline. A year later, an agreement on its financing was signed. According to it, the Shah Deniz consortium will pay 50% of the costs of the newproject, and the transit country - the remaining half. In 2013, a memorandum was signed, but in the summer it was announced that investments would be made in the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline. The chief executive of the Austrian company OMV said the project has been put on hold. Therefore, the Nabucco gas pipeline has lost its strategic importance today, but recently Bulgaria and Azerbaijan again asked the EU to revive it. Time will tell what will come of this.
Nabucco gas pipeline: scheme
The planned length of the route was 3893 kilometers. It was supposed to start in Ahiboz (Turkey) and end in the Baumgarten vault (Austria). It would also pass through three more countries: Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. But in fact, the Nabucco gas pipeline was not supposed to start in Ahiboz. The project route also included Georgia and Iraq. In Ahiboz, it was supposed to be connected precisely to their highways. The modified Nabucco-West gas pipeline was a more modest project and was supposed to start at the Turkish-Bulgarian border. Its estimated length was 1329 kilometers. The shortened gas pipeline was supposed to pass through the territory of four states: Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria. The Polish company PGNiG once studied the possibility of connecting the state to Nabucco.
Specifications
The Nabucco-West gas pipeline was supposed to be tax free for 25 years from launch. Its capacity was to be 10 billion cubic meters per year. Half of the transported gas would be supplied to countries not directly involved in the project. If there was demand, capacity could be raised by an additional 13 billion cubic meters.
Construction
The Nabucco project is part of the Trans-European Energy Network development program, and its development was carried out with grant money. When it was transformed, then all engineering work had to be continued. Construction was scheduled to start in 2013. Nabucco was supposed to be fully operational by 2017. But the Shah Deniz consortium chose another project to finance, so this one remains frozen for now.
Funding
The cost of the Nabucco project has never been disclosed, but R. Micek said in 2012 that it was much less than 7.9 billion euros. Final settlement is expected by the end of 2013. Today, Bulgaria and Azerbaijan are conducting special studies in order to prove the profitability of the construction of this gas pipeline.
Sources of gas pipeline filling
The basis of the project is the already built Baku-Tbilisi highway. Deliveries from Central Asia, primarily from Turkmenistan, were to be carried there. There was a proposal to lay a gas pipeline through Armenia, but this caused an extremely negative reaction in Azerbaijan itself. Poland planned to make a branch from Nabucco to its territory through Slovakia.
Initially, it was planned to transport through the gas pipelinefuel from Iran, but a conflict started there. At the summit in Budapest, this country was not already represented. The only source of filling that remained by 2013 was in Azerbaijan - the Shah Deniz field. But now the Caspian gas pipeline draws from it. Nabucco Managing Director R. Mitchek considers it possible for Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Egypt and even Russia to join.
Prospects and problems
From the very beginning of the development of the project, the implementation of Nabucco was associated with a number of difficulties. Sources of supply have been identified for a maximum of a quarter of the estimated capacity. This makes it unprofitable. The state of affairs is complicated by the uncertainty of the status of the Caspian Sea, near which Russian troops are based. After the five-day war, Georgia's suitability as a transit state has also been significantly reduced, and the involvement of Armenia in the project will lead to a backlash from Azerbaijan. Many problems are connected with the participation of Turkey.
Today, Nabucco remains a pipe dream, and its geopolitical significance has fallen dramatically. Most major European states, and even more so Russia, are not interested in spending huge amounts of money on it.
