Bulgaria to offer state guarantees for Nabucco gas pipeline - minister

20.1.2011 by ctstmaser.

 Thu, Jan 20 2011 12:43 CET

Bulgaria would support the development of the Nabucco gas pipeline by issuing state guarantees for loans taken by state-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) to fund the project, Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov said in Parliament on January 20 2011.

Traikov spoke as part of the debate preceding a vote of confidence in the Cabinet of centre-right party GERB.

The initial contribution of each party to the project is 400 million euro and guarantees for a further two billion euro are required for the duration of the project, according to financial projections by executives of the Nabucco project company. Bulgaria is represented in the project through BEH, the holding company that manages most state-owned assets in the energy sector.

“I’d like for Bulgaria to be independent from a single energy source,” Traikov said. “I would like you to continue your support for the implementation of major energy projects if they are in Bulgaria’s national interest”.

Since taking office in July 2009, the Government has rejected the prospect of issuing state guarantees for loans taken for other energy projects, in particular the Belene nuclear power plant, for which Russia’s Atomstroyexport had been contracted to build two 1000MW reactors.

The Nabucco pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline spanning from Erzurum in Turkey to Baumgarten in Austria, crossing Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary along the way and thus diversifying natural gas suppliers and delivery routes to Europe.

The project aims to decrease the European dependence on Russian gas, which now accounts for a quarter of the annual consumption in Europe. Nabucco is backed as a strategic project by the European Union and the United States and is widely seen as rival to the Gazprom-led South Stream pipeline project

 http://sofiaecho.com/print.php?storyid=1028116

The Nabucco-South Stream race intensifies

The race between the two EU’s eastern gas pipelines is going on while next winter can again show some supply problems via Ukraine. South Stream got latest boost on 11^th November 2009 as Russia’s Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko and Slovenian Economy Minister Matej Lahovnik signed an agreement on the passage of the South Stream gas pipeline across Slovenian territory. Same time shareholders in the Nabucco have started talks with two European top lenders over borrowing almost €1.5 billion for the pipeline’s construction; a €5.6 billion loan is needed for the construction first stage of the project and the shareholders have also started talks with two credit insurers. Besides loan Nabucco still desperately is searching gas for its planned pipe.

With South Stream Russia is looking a more reliable route for its gas exports to Europe as it bypasses Ukraine and Belarus, where price disputes have in the past led to gas shortages. EU Commission tries with Nabucco provide a supply of gas not subject to Russian control.

The competition

The competition over gas is coming harder. In my article “New Player in Caspian Sea Power Corridor” I described how China has came to game to take big share of Turkmenistan gas.

For contest between EU’s Nabucco and Russia’s South Stream China’s actions favor later. Today’s arrangements are securing gas for South Stream while Nabucco still is searching supply. It is more clear that Nabucco should be filled with Iraqi and/or Iranian gas and political aspects related to this may delay finding(private) investors and the implementation of project as whole. In bottom line while Russia is taking its part from old gas fields and China from old and new gas fields the Nabucco pipe still is more than half empty.

More about this comparison one may find from my post “EU’s big choice – Nabucco or South Stream?“.

Bulgaria?

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 http://arirusila.wordpress.com/2009/11/15/the-nabucco-south-stream-race-intensifies/

and

Balkanblog

Earlier Nabucco got its priority status in EU as the aim was to diversify supplies away from Russia.  Now Gazprom is to make a presentation to the European Parliament to promote South Stream later in 2009. The EU Energy Commission says Gazprom would have to prove South Stream represents “added value” for Europe to become a priority, earlier the EU has already accepted Gazprom’s Nord Stream as a priority project.

Boost to South Stream

On May 15 South Stream project got a boost two step closer to reality. As I mentioned in my previous article in addition to Italy’s ENI, Gazprom signed memoranda of understanding with Greek natural gas transmission company DESFA, Serbia’s Srbijagas and Bulgarian Energy Holding.  What I didn’t knew then was that at a meeting in Sochi, attended by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Russia’s Gazprom and Italy’s ENI agreed to double the planned pipeline’s capacity to 63 billion cubic meters from previous plan 31 bcm/y.  So at same day the establishment of joint ventures for the construction of South Stream pipeline was finally provided with a formal basis and the project doubled estimated gas flow. This Gazprom’s move strengthens their competitive advantage over Nabucco and at the same time affirm its dominance in the field.

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http://arirusila.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/is-it-time-to-bury-nabucco-2/

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