31 26/02/2010 » Economy
Nabucco pipeline to consider GDF Suez participation

Partners in the Nabucco pipeline will consider an application by
France’s GDF Suez SA to join the project, Turkish Energy Minister
Taner Yildiz said today, according to neftegaz.ru.

Note that Christian Dolezal, a spokeswoman for OMV AG said in Vienna:
`The doors are open to France — a possible participation of GDF Suez
in this project would definitely be welcomed.’

`The consortium is open for a seventh partner if he further
strengthens the project,’ Christian Dolezal said.

Nabucco is intended to cut Europe’s dependence on Russian gas, helping
to avoid a repeat of the cutoffs that reduced supplies to the region
twice in the last three years. The link is due to send as much as 31
billion cubic meters of Caspian- region fuel a year via Turkey to
Austria starting in 2014.

France applied to join the project September 14, 2007, though, in
February, 2008 Turkey blocked France’s Nabucco partnership over the
approval of draft project on criminal punishment of questioning the
fact of the Armenian Genocide by the low house of the French
parliament.

Source: Panorama.am