"It was only a few hours ago that German power giant RWE joined Nabucco as the sixth partner in the EUR 5 billion gas pipeline project, and there is word already of a seventh partner, Gaz de France. Hungary's MOL has already welcomed the potential newcomer.Nabucco, held by Austria's OMV, Bulgaria's Bulgargaz, Hungary's MOL, Transgaz of Romania and Turkey's Botas, officially accepted Germany's RWE as its sixth partner on Tuesday.
The partners said RWE's accession was a huge step forward, as it will greatly enhance the consortium's negotiating power. The six partners now each have a 16.67% share in Nabucco Gas Pipeline International Ltd.
On Monday, Romanian President Traian Basescu said after a joint press conference with visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy that Gaz de France would join the consortium that is building the Nabucco natural-gas pipeline.
“We have agreed that the French company Gaz de France will be associated with the Nabucco project and Romania supports its involvement," Thomson Financial cited Basescu as saying.
Gaz de France said it did not sign up, while Nabucco's spokesman declined to comment.
“I have heard that, but I cannot and will not comment about it since we will welcome the (consortium's) sixth member (German energy-provider RWE) on Tuesday in Vienna," Christian Dolezal of Nabucco said on Monday.
MOL said on Tuesday they would welcome Gaz de France as the 7th partner.
“We believe that joining the five founding members, both RWE and Gaz de France represent a high additional value to the Nabucco project that continues to need substantial economic and political support from the European companies and governments," Benjamin Lakatos, Director of MOL Gas Midstream told local newswire MTI in a statement.
“Gaz de France is one of the largest and financially soundest companies, and its merger with Suez has given it access to an even bigger consumer portfolio in Europe," he added.
OMV CEO Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer said Nabucco's shareholders were “ready to welcome a seventh partner as long as that strengthens the project."
German power giant RWE became the sixth partner here Tuesday in Nabucco, the five-billion-euro (7.4-billion-dollar) pipeline to feed 31 billion cubic metres of gas each year from the Middle East to Europe from 2012 at the earliest.
Nabucco is a 3,300-kilometre (2,050-mile) pipeline running from the Caspian Sea via Turkey and the Balkan states to Austria. Its construction is scheduled to kick off in 2009 and be completed in 2012 at the earliest, but Nabucco chief Reinhard Mitschek said deliveries might not actually start until 2013.
The pipeline will transport 31 billion cubic metres of gas to the energy-thirsty EU from the Middle East and Asia so as to decrease the bloc's dependence on Russian supplies."
Source: Portfolio Online Financial Journal
06.02.2008