Nabucco scales down pipeline plans
21 February 2012
THE EU-backed Nabucco consortium has confirmed that is looking to build a significantly smaller pipeline than initially planned to carry Caspian gas to Europe, according to industry sources. The 3,900-km project was originally scheduled to transport 31 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year from the Caspian region via Turkey and Eastern Europe to Austria.
The Nabucco pipeline project is being scaled back
Nabucco is in competition with two similar projects.
The first, the South East Europe Pipeline, is designed by BP to tap about 10 bcm from Shah Deniz-2, a field in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan’s Socar and Botas of Turkey are also proposing to build a pipeline to carry the gas across Turkey called TANAP. If built, TANAP would seriously damage the business case for Nabucco.