Tehran anxious to complete Nabucco gas pipeline deal
01 October 2008
Iran is pushing Austrian company OMV to seal the Nabucco gas pipeline deal at once before Tehran looks for other partners, the Iranian state news agency reported.
Nabucco Gas Pipeline, a $5.8 billion gas transit project set to run from central Asia to Austria bypassing Russia, has struggled to advance with construction phase putting it on hold due to the lack of investment.
Iran, which it said was ready to supply gas through Nabucco, wants to turn the preliminary contracts into actual contracts from OMV – one of the six shareholders of the planned 3,300 km gas network project,
which would cut Europe’s reliance on Russian gas.
It is thought that Iran has many other options. In recent months, the Islamic Republic of Iran has signed many new contracts with countries such as India, Pakistan, Switzerland and Venezuela.
The Nabucco’s consortium, which includes MOL of Hungary, Transgaz of Romania, Bulgargaz of Bulgaria, Botas of Turkey and RWE of Germany, has expressed fears that there may not be a sufficient gas supply to make the pipeline viable. Iran is estimated to provide more than 50% of the pipeline’s capacity.
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