Translated material
Nabucco's last stronghold falls
Austria has almost reached the South Stream
The South Stream gas pipeline project , which is promoted by Gazprom as the main route for fuel supplies to Europe through the Balkans, should soon gain another participant. As Alexander Medvedev, deputy chairman of the board of Gazprom, told reporters during the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, “in the very near future an intergovernmental agreement will be signed with Austria, which provides for the appointment of OMV as the project coordinator on the Austrian side.” Most likely, the document will be agreed upon during the European Football Championship, the matches of which at the group stage the Russian team will play in Austria. And according to Vremya Novostei, a solid contingent from Gazprom is expected at the games, including Chairman of the Board Alexey Miller and his deputy for foreign economic affairs Alexander Medvedev. Moreover, it cannot be completely ruled out that the signing itself will take place during Euro-2008.Apparently, it was agreed upon on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg forum during a meeting between Alexey Miller and the Austrian Minister of Economy and Labor Martin Bartenstein that the Austrian company would join the project as soon as possible. As a source in the concern told Vremya Novostei, the conversation with the Austrian politician was not initially on Mr. Miller’s schedule. But after the Gazprom delegation went to Baku , with which the Austrian company OMV is conducting complex negotiations on gas purchases, and the head of the Russian concern suggested that the country's President Ilham Aliyev export raw materials to Russia at market prices, they asked from Austria about the opportunity to hold a meeting. The Russian-Austrian agreement on South Stream may well become one of the decisive blows to the Nabucco gas pipeline project, which is being promoted as an alternative to Gazprom supplies.
Negotiations with Vienna on joining the gas pipeline project have been going on for quite some time. Last year, during Mr. Putin's visit to Austria, significant progress was noted in this process. However, at the beginning of the year, when the Russian authorities, together with Gazprom, carried out a rapid campaign to sign agreements on South Stream (intergovernmental agreements were signed with Bulgaria, Serbia , Hungary and Greece), the dialogue with the Austrians stalled. This happened against the background of certain successes of Western diplomats (from Brussels and Washington) in the countries of Central Asia. As is known, Austria, and OMV in particular, is the main driving force behind the Nabucco gas transport project for supplies to Europe, bypassing Russia. This pipe was designed with Iranian gas in mind, but in the new political conditions they are trying to reorient it to raw materials from other Caspian states - Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. It even got to the point that Alexey Miller urgently flew to Slovenia, and sources in diplomatic circles started talking about the possible passage of a gas pipeline on the way to Italy through Slovenian and Croatian territories, i.e. bypassing Austria.
Although there are now increasingly frequent assessments that South Stream and Nabucco can coexist, in reality this is not entirely true. Indeed, there are forecasts that by 2015 demand in Europe will increase by 200-250 billion cubic meters. And each of these pipes is designed for only 30 billion cubic meters of gas. But, firstly, without Iran there are not sufficient resources to fill two gas pipelines. Secondly, the routes largely duplicate each other and have a similar composition of participants, who may not be able to finance two pipes at the same time. Thirdly, we should not forget that demand estimates were made at completely different oil and gas prices. A significant increase in prices (almost doubling in a year), which also shows no signs of stopping, can significantly affect the level of consumption in the future.
Gazprom wants to join the gas pipeline project from Alaska
As Alexey Miller, Chairman of the Board of Gazprom, stated, Gazprom has unique experience, knowledge and modern technologies, and is the most advanced company in the world in the field of gas transportation through main gas pipelines. Therefore, it is of interest to us, for example, to participate in such a large-scale project as the construction of a gas pipeline from Alaska.” “We have already made a corresponding proposal to our partners - the companies ConocoPhillips and British Petroleum,” said the head of the Russian company. The Western press estimates the cost of the project to build a gas pipeline from Alaska to the southern states of the United States (Denali) at $30 billion. The capacity of the gas pipeline will be more than 40 billion cubic meters per year. The project involves the construction of a gas processing plant at the North Slope field in northern Alaska, as well as the construction of a gas pipeline through Canada to the United States. BP and ConocoPhillips previously said they would seek other shareholders for the project, including pipeline companies that could add value to the project and help manage its risks. Later, Gazprom Deputy Chairman of the Board Alexander Medvedev told reporters that in addition to BP and ConocoPhillips, the gas giant is communicating with TransCanada, which has another project in the same region - a gas pipeline from Alaska to Canada. INTERFAX