Send to Kindle
Photo credit: gazprom.ru
The future head of Austria’s OMV Rainer Seele appears to be planning a new route for Russian gas to Europe bypassing Ukraine jointly with Gazprom, according to Austrian newspaper Die Presse.
Seele will take the helm at one of the most powerful energy companies in central Europe on 1 July to replace OMV's current CEO Gerhard Roiss, who is set to step down at the end of June.
According to the Austrian newspaper, the new route appears to resurrecting the closed gas pipeline project Nabucco – with one major difference: instead of carrying Caspian gas to Europe it will transport Russian and possibly Iranian natural gas via Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary to Austria
The original Nabucco pipeline project, officially buried in 2013, was designed to bring Caspian gas via Turkey and the Balkans to a central European hub in Baumgarten near Vienna in order to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian gas. Two years later there are signs that OMV is considering a 'Russian Nabucco pipeline', according to Die Presse.
Three independent sources have confirmed to Die Presse that the project will be promoted by Reinhard Mitschek, the former managing director of the Nabucco consortium, in which OMV, Hungary’s MOL, Romania’s Transgaz, Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz, Turkey’s Botas and Germany’s RWE each held 16.67%.
Die Presse also noted in its exclusive article that Reinhard Mitschek is sitting next to Seele in Moscow on 3 June with the management of Gazprom on a photograph posted on the official website of the Russian gas giant.
OMV had confirmed the meeting but declined to give details, while Mitschek and Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov could not be reached for comment, Die Presse said.
Since 2009 Seele has been CEO of German oil and gas company Wintershall, a division of the chemical giant BASF and one of the main European partners of Gazprom in Europe.
A Russian-flagged tanker, identified as the KAIROS, has run aground near the Bulgarian coast close to Ahtopol following a drone attack by Ukraine in the Black Sea
EU legislators have reached a landmark agreement to end reliance on Russian gas by 2027, marking a decisive shift in Europe’s energy policy.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb cautioned European leaders that U.S. officials were likely maintaining simultaneous contact with Russia while conducting negotiations with Ukraine
Russian forces have recorded new advances in parts of Donetsk and Kharkiv oblasts
The UN General Assembly has approved a resolution calling for Russia to immediately and unconditionally send back all Ukrainian children
A recent survey conducted by Info Sapiens for the New Europe Centre has revealed that slightly over half of Ukrainians, 51.4%, are willing to join protests should their country make unacceptable concessions in peace negotiations with Russia
A new contract tied to the future construction of Kozloduy NPP’s seventh and eighth units was signed at the Council of Ministers between Kozloduy NPP–New Power Plants and the LEP-BWXT-CNPSA consortium
The Energy and Water Regulatory Commission has set the price of natural gas for December at 63.01 BGN per MWh, equivalent to 32.22 EUR per MWh
The Municipality of Gotse Delchev has approved one of the largest infrastructure projects in the region, granting unanimous consent to a cooperation agreement with the Swiss company
Turkey’s state-run energy company Botas reported a record loss of USD 1 billion (around 1.85 billion BGN) in 2024
Dimitar Georgiev, a Bulgarian financier and international markets analyst, stated that he does not anticipate any further increase in fuel prices in the country
Vladislav Panev, from the “Acceleration” Club and a former MP with the “Green Movement,” described the appointment of Rumen Spetsov as a special manager of Lukoil Bulgaria as surprising
Bulgaria's Strategic Role in the EU's Drone Wall Defense Initiative
When Politics Means Violence
