• Two feeder lines to Georgia and Iraq confirmed
• Nabucco follows a multi-source approach

The Nabucco pipeline project has taken another step forward. At their latest Steering Committee meeting in Ankara, the shareholders agreed on a modification to the feeder line concept. Two feeder lines were confirmed and the respective engineering works were ordered but due to the current political situation, Nabucco Gas Pipeline International is not planning a third one to the Turkish-Iranian border so far.

There will be a feeder line to the Turkish-Georgian and to the Turkish-Iraqi border. The planned route offers a wide range of supply sources for the Nabucco gas pipeline, which will receive gas from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iraq.

Nabucco is a multi-sourcing project and will as such not rely on a single source or supplier for the operation of the pipeline. The Caspian region and the Middle East are among the world’s richest gas regions and have a big potential for gas exports to Europe. These regions will therefore play a crucial role both in diversification and security of supply. The investment for the pipeline is 7.9 billion Euro.

Nabucco in brief

Nabucco is the new gas bridge from Asia to Europe. It will directly connect the world’s richest gas regions - the Caspian region and the Middle East, to the European consumer markets. The pipeline will link the Eastern border of Turkey, to Baumgarten in Austria - one of the most important gas hubs in Central Europe - via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary

Shareholder structure

The Nabucco shareholders are: Botas (Turkey), Bulgarian Energy Holding (Bulgaria), MOL (Hungary), OMV (Austria), RWE (Germany),Transgaz (Romania). Each shareholder holds an equal share of 16.67% of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH. It is the shareholders who are responsible for the negotiation of gas contracts.

BEH

Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD is a joint-stock company with a 100% Bulgarian state ownership. The structure of the Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD includes seven subsidiaries: Mini Maritsa Iztok EAD, Maritsa East 2 TPP EAD, Kozloduy NPP EAD, NEK EAD, Bulgargaz EAD, Bulgartransgaz EAD and Bulgartel EAD, the capital of which is 100% owned by the Holding. Two of the BEH subsidiaries are working in the field of gas transmission and gas supply. These companies are Bulgartansgaz EAD and Bulgargaz EAD. Bulgartransgaz EAD, as a daughter company of BEH EAD, is the proprietor and operator of the gas-transmission network on the territory of the country for transmission of natural gas to Turkey, Greece and Macedonia. The company also possesses an underground gas storage. The total length of the main gas pipelines is over 2,645 km, out of which over 1,700 km of gas pipelines are representative of the national gas transmission network. The gas transmission network for local consumers and for transit transmission of natural gas also includes 10 compressor stations and 68 gas pressure-reduction stations. A total of 12,4 billion m³ of natural gas were transited by Bulgartransgaz EAD  to the countries of the Balkan region in 2009. Bulgargaz EAD, as a daughter company of BEH EAD, possesses the only natural gas public supply licence in Bulgaria. In 2009 Bulgargaz EAD sold 2,530 billion m³ of natural gas on the domestic market.

BOTAS

The Turkish state owned company Botas is established in 1974 to transport the Iraqi crude oil to the Gulf of Iskenderun. With its headquarter in Ankara and some 2,700 employees, Botas is organized throughout Turkey to operate crude oil and natural gas systems efficiently. Botas operates around 12,000 km of gas pipeline within the country. After the completion of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) Crude Oil Pipeline, the total crude oil pipeline system operated by Botas reached to 3,400 km. Existing transportation capacity of 80.2 million tons of oil would reaches 130.2 million tons per year through the operation of BTC. Being also a trader of natural gas, through 8 separate sales-purchase contracts with companies from 6 different countries, Botas imported and sold some 38 billion m³ natural gas in 2008, 5.2 billion m³ of this amount being LNG.

MOL

MOL is a leading international, integrated and independent oil and gas company, headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. It has operations in EMEA and the CIS member states and it employs over 34.000 people worldwide. MOL owns 5 refineries in Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia and Italy with a refinery capacity of 23.5 mtpa and according to Wood Mackenzie global survey, the refineries in Hungary and in Slovakia are among the most efficient refineries in Europe. MOL Group operates over 1600 filling stations in Europe and a nearly 5,500 km long high pressure natural gas pipeline network in Hungary. MOL is active in regional gas transmission and trading. In 2009 MOL established an underground gas storage with a unique strategic mobile capacity of 1,2 bcm and 0,7 bcm commercial capacities. In petrochemicals MOL Group is among the top ten polymer market players in Europe.MOL is a market leader in each of its core activities in Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia. Its shares are listed on Budapest, Luxembourg and Warsaw Stock Exchanges and the DRs traded on London’s International Order Book and on OTC in the US.

OMV Gas & Power

OMV Gas & Power is OMV's central company for the gas- and power business and comprises the three business units Supply, Marketing & Trading as well as Gas Logistics and Power. The sustainable growth strategy of the business segment focuses on four main objectives: optimising and enlarging OMV’s natural gas portfolio, expanding the logistics business, further strengthening the gas trading and distribution activities as well as extending the value chain by embarking on the power business. This way all processes along the gas value chain – from exploration and production, transport, storage and marketing to power generation in gas power plants – are integrated into the group. In the business unit Supply, Marketing & Trading in 2009 OMV Gas & Power and EconGas sold 8.5 bcm, Petrom Gas sold 4.6 bcm. With an exchanged volume of 23 bcm in 2009, and the expansion of the service portfolio by gas exchange activities the Central European Gas Hub developed into one of the most important gas hubs in Continental Europe. In the business unit Gas Logistics the total transportation volume sold in 2009 was 75.3 bcm. In addition to supplying gas for Austria, the OMV gas pipeline system carries gas to Germany, Italy, France, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary. Not the least by the leading role in the Nabucco Gas Pipeline project, the security of supply with natural gas should be further strengthened.

RWE

RWE is one of Europe’s five leading utilities. The Group, founded in 1898, is active in the generation, trading, transmission and supply of electricity and gas. With more than 70,000 employees, RWE AG recorded €48 billion in revenue in fiscal 2009. The Group has a customer base of over 16 milion in the electricity and 8 million in the gas business. RWE is investing some €7 billion annually in environmentally-friendly and flexible generation capacity. €1.4 billion of that will go towards renewables, mainly wind and biomass.

RWE Supply & Trading is one of the leading European energy trading companies and – with the gas procurement volume of 50 billion cubic metres per year – it is also among the leading companies in the European gas industry. RWE Supply & Trading is responsible for all of RWE Group’s activities on the international energy procurement and wholesale markets. In addition, the company optimises the complete gas portfolio of the Group, from short- to long-term procurement and delivery commitments. The RWE Group currently handles a 50 bcm/a gas supply portfolio in Europe, a gas production of more than 3 billion cubic meters per year and gas storages with a capacity of some 6.4 billion cubic meters.

TRANSGAZ

The Romanian National Gas Transmission Company Transgaz, with its headquarters in Medias, has been established in April 2000, as a result of a legal unbundling of the former vertically integrated national gas company Romgaz. The registered capital of Transgaz is owned 73,5 % by the Romanian state, represented by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, 15 % by the Proprietatea Fund and 10 % was listed on the Romanian stock exchange on January 2008 and 1,5% since May 2009. The main object of activity is the natural gas transmission, dispatching and international transit, as well as research and design in the natural gas transmission field. Over the last four years, through the National Transmission System natural gas quantities between 15.2 bcm (2006) and 11.5 bcm (2009) have been transported. Currently Transgaz operates over 13,000 km of pipelines. The turnover of the company for the year 2009 was EUR 280.2 million.