Azernews.Az

Nabucco shareholders are in close negotiations with the consortium of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz field development, and the cooperation agreement between the sides is expected to be signed soon, Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH spokesman, Christian Dolezal told Trend news agency.

"The negotiations are progressing well, but are of a highly complex nature. We are confident that a cooperation agreement will be finalized soon," Dolezal wrote via e-mail.

According to Dolezal, a fixed date of the signing can not be given because of the complexity of these negotiations.

The cooperation agreement, in particular, will include the issues of the potential shareholding, as well as the technical aspects of cooperation.

Earlier Reuters reported with the reference to Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH), that an agreement on the stake of Shah Deniz partners in Nabucco West gas pipeline project can be signed in January at the meeting of Nabucco shareholders in Sofia.

Nabucco West is a short-cut version of Nabucco project, which envisages construction of the pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria.

The project's current shareholders are Bulgarian Energy Holding, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas, Austrian OMV, German RWE and Hungary's FGSZ, and each of them holds 16.67-percent share.

In June, 2012 the consortium of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas field development chose Nabucco West as the single pipeline option for the potential export of Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas to Central Europe. The final decision on the pipeline route to transport Azerbaijani gas to Europe will be made this year.