A recent statement from the Austrian oil and gas company OMV announced the gas pipeline project Nabucco West was not selected by the Shah Deniz II consortium as their preferred gas transportation route to Europe. This means that gas from the Caspian bedding Shah Deniz II will not travel to Europe via the Nabucco pipe, the 1,300 kilometer pipe which was supposed to connect Bulgaria to Austria via Romania. Ten years from when the first preparations were made for this gas inter-connection, Romanians pundits say Romania stands to lose from this decision, starting with the transport tariffs which could have been gained, to the ten years of investments in this project. Much of the 1,300 kilometers of the gas pipe would have crossed Romanian territory – some 475 kilometers.

Romania's Economy and Industry Ministry however said Romania was among the least dependent on gas imports via the planned pipeline than the other partners in the Nabucco project. “On a regional level, we will continue efforts to finalize the projects we started, among which the AGRI project is a priority. These efforts include a careful analysis of all the opportunities to diversify the sources of energy supply,” according to a ministry statement. The ministry underlined a final decision from the Shah Deniz II consortium is scheduled for June 28. AGRI or the Interconnector Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania-Hungary is a proposed project to transport Azerbaijani natural gas to Romania and further to Central Europe.

The CEO of OMV, Gerhard Roiss however said the Nabucco project is over for the company, as the Shah Deniz II consortium suggested it intends to ship gas to Europe via another route.

OMV was the leading company managing the Nabucco project, which also includes the Bulgarian Energy Holding, Turkey's BOTAS, Hungarian FGSZ and Romania's Transgaz.

The Nabucco-West pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria. It is a modification of the original Nabucco Pipeline project which was to run from Erzurum in Turkey to Baumgarten an der March in Austria. The original project was backed by several European Union member states and by the United States, and was seen as a rival to the South Stream pipeline project. Preparations started in 2002 and the intergovernmental agreement between Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria was signed in 2009.

editor@romania-insider.com