Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The national regulators of Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria have confirmed the extension of the 50 percent exemption from the European Union legislation on third party access granted to the Nabucco gas pipeline via a draft decision.

The Nabucco Gas Pipeline International consortium said that the prolongation is aligned with the expectations of the delivery timelines for gas from Azerbaijan's giant Shah Deniz field in the Caspian
Sea, which is considered as the main source for the Nabucco West project.

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

The four national regulators also reiterated their support for the Nabucco legal and regulatory framework, consisting of the Nabucco Intergovernmental Agreement, the Project Support Agreements and the Exemptions.

Exemption from current EU legislation, which stipulates that 100 percent network access has to be made available to companies not directly involved, can only be granted in the case of major cross-border projects.

Two pipelines, Nabucco West and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), are currently competing over transportation of Azerbaijani gas to European markets.

Nabucco West and TAP are part of the Southern Gas Corridor, which is one of the EU's priority energy projects. The Southern Gas Corridor aims at diversifying the routes and sources of energy supply, thereby increasing secure delivery.

The Shah Deniz consortium is considering both TAP and Nabucco West. The consortium will make its final decision on the pipeline route in June and a final investment decision by October 2013.