An earlier map of the Nabucco pipeline showing its branches from Georgia and Iraq into Turkey. Image by Wikimedia Commons.
The Nabucco pipeline project has modified its gas supply concept to include two feeder pipelines leading to Turkey – one from Georgia and one from Iraq.
This is seen as following Nabucco's commitment to a “multi-source approach” to guarantee stable and adequate deliveries of gas to Europe.
The decision for introducing two feeder lines was taken at the last meeting of Nabucco's Steering Committee in Ankara and reported Monday.
“The planned route offers a wide range of supply sources for the Nabucco gas pipeline, which will receive gas from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iraq,” says the announcement.
The Nabucco Consortium announced it has already ordered the engineering works for the two lines.
A third line from Iran to Turkey is not planned due to the "political situation."
The shareholders in Nabucco are Botas (Turkey), Bulgarian Energy Holding (Bulgaria), MOL
(Hungary), OMV (Austria), RWE (Germany), Transgaz (Romania), each holding an equal
share of 16.67%.
The European Union puts high hopes in Nabucco for effecting the much-vaunted European South Energy Corridor in a bid to ensure the security of gas deliveries to Europe and decrease dependence on Russia.
It is seen as a rival to the South Stream gas pipeline project sponsored by Russia, to which Bulgaria is a also a party.