Nabucco, Shah Deniz partners reach Equity Option and Funding Agreement

Baku, January 11 (AzerTAc). Nabucco gas pipeline project`s shareholders, Nabucco Gas Pipeline International Gmbh (NIC) and the partners on Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field development and Nabucco project`s potential investors -- SOCAR, BP, Statoil and Total -- have reached Equity Option and Funding Agreement. According to a NIC statement, the agreement envisages joint funding of the development costs of the Nabucco West up to the pipeline selection decision for Shah Deniz` European export route and the granting to Potential Investors of equity options of 50 percent to participate as shareholders in NIC following a positive pipeline selection decision by the Shah Deniz Consortium in favour of Nabucco West. The Shah Deniz Consortium, NIC and the Nabucco Shareholders have also reached agreement in principle on a Cooperation Agreement for further development of Nabucco West and alignment with the Shah Deniz Stage 2 Project. The Equity Option and Funding Agreement and the Cooperation Agreement are being finalized and will be executed shortly in Vienna between the relevant parties. Nabucco West is a short-cut version of Nabucco project, which envisages construction of the pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria. The project`s current shareholders are Bulgarian Energy Holding, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas, Austrian OMV, German RWE and Hungary`s FGSZ, and each of them holds 16.67-percent share. In June, 2012 the consortium of Shah Deniz gas field development chose Nabucco West as the single pipeline option for the potential export of Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas to Central Europe. The final decision on the pipeline route to transport Azerbaijani gas to Europe will be made this year.