“The shareholders and potential investors SOCAR, BP, Statoil and Total have reached agreement in principle on the joint funding of the development costs of the Nabucco West up to the pipeline selection decision for Shah Deniz’ European export route,” the statement noted.
Additionally, Nabucco’s holders have agreed to grant potential investors equity options of 50% to participate as shareholders in the project following a positive pipeline selection decision by the Shah Deniz consortium in favor of Nabucco West.
The pipeline selection decision for Shah Deniz’ European export route is expected to be taken by the Shah Deniz Consortium by 30 June 2013. Shah Deniz will choose either Nabucco West or the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline to ship its natural gas to Europe.
Nabucco’s shareholders are Austrian oil group OMV, Romania’s Transgaz, German RWE, Hungary’s MOL, Bulgargaz of Bulgaria and Turkey’s Botas.
Nabucco West is projected to run from Turkey to Austria, transiting Romania and Bulgaria. The pipeline is expected to carry between 10 and 23 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year.