Gaz de France has slim chances of joining the Romanian part of the Nabucco project, official says

Any other company, besides the ones already involved in the project, must respect the rules set by the consortium which manages the Nabucco project, the general manager of Romania’s gas operator Transgaz, Ioan Rusu said.

Transgaz is part of Nabucco, together with Botas (Turkey), Bulgargaz (Bulgaria), MOL (Hungary) and OMV (Austria). In his turn, Economy and Finance Minister Varujan Vosganian noted if one of the involved countries will not agree with another entering the project, than that country will not be part of Nabucco.

The official said he does not know if Gaz de France can subcontract Transgaz in order to be involved in the Romanian part of the project.

Earlier this week Romania’s Foreign Affairs Minister Adrian Cioroianu said the government can ask Gaz de France for a collaboration concerning Romania’s part in Nabucco.

Cioroianu noted it is in Romania’s interest for Gaz de France to be involved in an ambitious and expensive project such as Nabucco. President Traian Basescu previously said Gaz de France will be involved in the Nabucco project.

His statement came after talking with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who visited Romania on February 4. The Nabucco project refers to the construction of a 3,300 kilometers long pipeline which will transport gas from the Middle East and Asia to EU countries.

The pipeline will traverse several southeastern European countries. Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria and Romania associated towards the construction of the pipeline, in a move to cut dependency from Russia’s gas.

People close to the Romanian president told the daily Cotidianul it was Sarkozy who asked Basescu’s support for France’s involvement in the Nabucco project.

Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu told Cotidianul the involvement of Gaz de France in the mentioned project was negotiated by Romania and France’s heads of foreign affairs.

Vosganian said the involvement of the owner of Europe's largest natural-gas network in the project will be debated in Vienna.

Austria’s capital will host the signing of the agreement through which RWE, Germany's second-largest utility, will take part in the Nabucco project.

Source: NewsIn