Decision
over Iran-Europe gas pipeline to be reached by 2007: OMV
AFP
FRANKFURT
Petroleumworld.com 01 11 06
Austrian energy giant OMV expects a decision to be reached on
the construction of a gas pipeline between Iran and Europe by
the end of 2007, the head of OMV Gas, Otto Musilek, said in a
German radio interview broadcast on Tuesday.
"Current developments will help us speed up the project,"
Musilek told Deutsche Welle radio, referring to the recent gas
dispute between Russia and the Ukraine.
"The decision regarding the construction of the pipeline
will be made by the end of 2007 at the latest."
In a project dubbed "Nabucco", OMV plans to build a
3,300-kilometre gas pipeline from Iran to Austria via Turkey and
the Balkan states.
The cost of the project is 4.6 billion euros (5.5 billion dollars)
and the pipeline is to deliver up to 30 billion cubic metres of
gas each year.
"For digging to begin, we need a transport volume of at least
eight billion cubic metres each year. Negotiations with suppliers
and distributors of natural gas are progressing well," Musilek
said.
OMV did not regard the project as a rival to the planned German-Russian
pipeline, he continued.
"According to forecasts, gas demand in Europe is going to
grow enormously.
Russia won't be able to meet all that demand on its own. "
Europe therefore needed access to Iran's gas reserves, which were
the second biggest in the world.
" But we're also looking to Azerbaijan and other Arab countries,"
Musilek said.
AFP
01/10/06
Copyright
© 2006 AFP. All rights reserved
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