Parliament supports the Nabucco pipeline

All political forces in Parliament voted "for" the ratification of the agreement supporting the Nabucco project. Only one MP abstained from the voting. The document regulates the relations under the project between Bulgaria and the international company in charge of building the pipeline - the Nabucco Gas Pipeline International Ltd, and the Bulgarian representative in it - Nabucco Gas Pipeline Bulgaria Ltd. The agreement stipulates rules for investing, operation and use of the pipeline. It specifies the procedure for resolving disputes as well.

In late April, the Bulgarian Government announced the Nabucco pipeline as a site of national importance. Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey signed an intergovernmental agreement on July 13, 2009. A year later, it was ratified by our Parliament with the support of all political forces. The first stage of Nabucco should be put into operation until 2015 and, by 2020, the facility should start operating at its full capacity. Now, the year 2018 is being indicated as the deadline for the launch of the pipeline.

According to the initial estimates, the Nabucco pipeline should cost about €7.9 bn. The delay of the project has increased its price to around €15 bn, according to expert evaluations.

The pipeline has to deliver Caspian, Iranian and Egyptian gas via the territories of the countries which participate in the project. The complicated political situation in Iran so far excludes the option for the pipeline to be filled with gas from there. At this stage, the main source of natural gas is the Shah Deniz 2 gas field in Azerbaijan.

The project company in charge of the construction of the Nabucco pipeline was set up in 2004. OMV (Austria), MOL (Hungary), Transgas (Romania), BOTA (Turkey) the Bulgarian Energy Holding and German RWE are shareholders in the project company. German RWE announced that it may withdraw from the project, but no final decision has been made so far. Hungarian MOL is considering its withdrawal as well.

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