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BBC-Interview , March 5th, Reinhard Mitschek

Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan took a step towards closer cooperation today in a move that will please European countries keen on both nations' gas resources. Relations between Baku and Ashgabat have been poor since the break up of the Soviet Union, but an agreement to settle old debt for Turkmen gas supplies delivered in the early 1990s, is the latest step towards a more cordial partnership. And that matters to Europe which is on the lookout for alternative gas and oil supplies to ease its reliance on Russia. At the heart of plans to access Caspian resources is the Nabucco pipeline project, a supply line which would take gas from the Turkish border with Georgia or Iran via several European countries to Austria. The question though is, will the six companies which make up the project secure enough supplies to make the pipe worthwhile, especially since the rival Russian South Stream pipeline has made some progress recently. We spoke to Reinhard Mitschek, Managing Director of the Nabucco Gas Pipeline International Ltd. Company and asked him first how important it is for Nabucco that Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan develop a good working relationship.

Mitschek:
"Well as you know, Central Asia and the Middle East are the gas sources for Nabucco, and therefore for Central Asia, that are the countries Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, each country as such is important for Nabucco. And (...) cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan is therefore also important to the project."

BBC:
Is Nabucco viable without Turkmen gas?

Mitschek:
"The project has the USP (unique selling point) to have several possibilities for gas sources to be fed into the pipeline, so therefore we have gas from Azerbaijan, from Kazakhstan , from Turkmenistan, from Iran, from Iraq, from Egypt. And therefore it is important to have a group of suppliers, it's not so important to have one single (supplier) but it is very important to have it as a group."

BBC:
In how far does Nabucco depend on other big construction projects such as the proposed Trans Caspian Pipeline that would bring Turkmen Gas to Azerbaijan for further shipment to Europe?

Mitschek:
"It will be helpful to have a Trans Caspian Pipeline from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan, there is no doubt, to bring Turkmen gas to Nabucco and further to transport it to European markets."

BBC:
How is the Nabucco project progressing; the company has taken on a sixth partner recently, is the project on course?

Mitschek:
"I would say Nabucco is on course, Nabucco is on time. We concluded the contract with the sixth partner, with RWE from Germany. We concluded the owner's engineer's engagement in December 2007 to execute the detailed engineering this year. We will execute an open season this year and invite market participants to book transport capacity and to give us information on the timing of the requests for the capacity and on offtake and intake points. So we are convinced that we will realise the project and we are in a good mood and we are on time."

BBC:
So what is the current date for the building work to start and the first gas to flow?

Mitschek:
"Well the construction will start in 2010 and the first gas will flow to Europe in 2013."

BBC:
How much is there a danger that the project might fail at the final hurdle because there is a Russian rival project, the South Stream pipeline which has already signed up some European partners too. Could it make Nabucco obsolete?

Mitschek:
"I would say, South Stream or other projects will not make Nabucco obsolete at all. If we consider the huge demand in Europe and the declining European indigenous production then we have to count on additional gas imports to Europe. To bring further gas to the European market centres we need new infrastructure, we need capacity and therefore, one pipeline to be realised makes not obsolete another one".

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