Cheney Pushes Nabucco Pipeline

The Wall Street Journal is carrying a story on VP Dick Cheney's trip to the Black Sea to express support for Georgia and push for alternative pipeline projects such as Nabucco.

"The Russians have demonstrated they can close that corridor through Georgia any time they want," said John Bolton, President Bush's former U.N. ambassador.
U.S. officials reject that. "The Georgian energy corridor is safe," Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew J. Bryza, one of Nabucco's major supporters, told an audience in Brussels Monday. He stressed that Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and the South Caucasus Gas Pipeline, which transports Azeri gas to Turkey, were unaffected by the fighting.

Mr. Bryza also said European energy companies behind Nabucco and the Turkey-Greece-Italy pipeline have told him they are determined to proceed with the two projects. "They haven't slowed down at all," he said. "They are anxious to line up gas supply contracts with Azerbaijan as soon as possible."

But some analysts said the Georgian war could scare off investors,...>

http://www.robertamsterdam.com/2008/09/cheney_pushes_nabucco.htm

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OMV, RWE say plan for Nabucco not hurt by Georgia


FRANKFURT, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Utilities OMV (OMVV.VI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and RWE (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said the current conflict in Georgia is not affecting their plans to build the Nabucco pipeline to transport gas from the Caucasus region and central Asia to Europe.

Even the armed conflict in Georgia only briefly affect gas flows through the country, both parties said, demonstrating that gas supplies are reliable even in times of tensions.

"Our experience is that pipelines are working once they lie on the ground, even when there is a crisis," said a spokesman for Austria's OMV, which leads the consortium of six companies that plan to build the 3,300 kilometre (2,051 miles) link.

Europe is seeking to access gas from suppliers other than Russian monopoly Gazprom (GAZP.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which delivers about a quarter of Europe's gas needs, as supplies from European sources such as the North Sea dwindle

The Nabucco consortium is also keeping its options open on filling Nabucco from suppliers outside the Caucasian region, including Egypt, Iraq and Iran, a spokesman for the consortium said....>

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssEnergyNews/idUSLT52292120080829


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Romanian President Says Gas Pipeline Project Not Affected By Georgia Conflict
Posted on: Saturday, 23 August 2008, 06:00 CDT

Text of report in English by Romanian government news agency Agerpres

Bucharest, 22 August: Nabucco project has not endangered by developments in Georgia, said, on Friday <22 August>, at Cotroceni presidential Palace, President Traian Basescu, as a conclusion to a diplomatic tour he made on Wednesday and Thursday, in Black Sea countries.

"The Russian action in Georgia has had nothing to do with the energy infrastructure. On the contrary, it seems they have taken care to protect it, even if a bridge has been destroyed, a bridge of military importance probably, blocking supply to Poti port, with crude oil carried by train from Kazakhstan.

Transport infrastructures, such as oil and gas pipelines, have not been affected, have not been endangered," Basescu said.

He has pointed out that this leads to the conclusion that Nabucco project continues to be viable, with viability depending on those wanting its implementation, although no inter-governmental agreement has been signed as yet between the states holding shares, and no contracts have been made with suppliers.

"Nabucco can be supplied gas from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Iraq and Egypt. The agreement has to be signed and contracts made with suppliers," Basescu also said.

According to him, the conclusion is the same also for the Pan European Oil Pipeline (PEOP) project, the Constanta-Trieste oil pipeline. 'There is crude oil which can be carried towards Europe, towards Italy, the centre of the Mediterranean region, if you like, but no inter-governmental agreements have been made, ' Basescu said....>

http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1530815/romanian_president_says_gas_pipeline_project_not_affected_by_georgia/index.html


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Nabucco Contortions
Judah Grunstein | Bio | 07 Aug 2008
WPR Blog

With Russia locking up all of the natural gas supplies that could possibly feed the EU's Nabucco pipeline project, the logical alternative from a supply perspective is Iran's immense reserves. Of course, that presents some political hurdles at the moment. But in the event no grand bargain is reached with Tehran, the Turkish Daily News gives us an idea of the form a workaround would probably take:

Meanwhile Iran and Turkey have worked out the details, including the pricing, of a deal to produce natural gas in the Islamic Republic and export it to Turkey, senior Turkish and Iranian officials told Reuters yesterday. Part of the gas deal agreement may be signed during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's upcoming trip to Turkey, said Ahmed Noorani, head of economic affairs at the Iranian embassy. Turkey plans to sell to Europe the gas it helps produce in Iran.

It's a legal fiction, of course, but perhaps a more palatable one than the Russian reality.

http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/blog/blog.aspx?ID=2541


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Nabucco Homepage
http://www.nabucco-pipeline.com/


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Trivia - Nabucco is the name of an Opera (composed by Verdi)
A battle between Israelites and Assyrians.

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/stories/synopsis.aspx?id=17