Wednesday, 18 January 2012RWE AG may pull out of the Nabucco gas pipeline project aimed at carrying natural gas from the Caspian region to central Europe via Turkey, according to the German utility's chief executive.
While still keen to import Caspian gas to Europe, RWE favors options "that keep our own financial exposure limited," said Chief Executive Juergen Grossmann in an interview for The Wall Street Journal Deutschland.
RWE, which has been badly hit by the German retreat on nuclear power, could support other pipelines that have competed with Nabucco, he added.
The German government's nuclear retreat and a tax on nuclear fuel triggered billions of euros in extra charges for the utilities, which cut investment and pledged to conserve cash in response.
RWE was forced to moved ahead with an asset disposal program and to reiterate vows to reduce investment and increase savings.
If the German energy giant scraps plans to participate in the Nabucco project, it could save a significant amount of cash.
RWE's main priority is to source gas with as little investment as possible, the company's CEO explained.
"The important thing is that Caspian gas flows to Europe and that it arrives in the quantities, and where, we need it," Grossman specified.
Whether the pipeline is called "Nabucco or Turandot doesn't really matter to us," he said in reference to the operas by Italian composers Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini.
Grossman's remarks are the first concrete signal from a member of the Nabucco consortium that the pipeline may not be built, despite years of preparation.
Nabucco was named after a Verdi opera after the founding members of the Nabucco consortium listened to Verdi's Nabucco opera at the Vienna State Opera in 2002.
The gas pipeline project has long been an EU priority due to hopes that it will diversify gas sources away from the dominant supplier, Russia.
The Nabucco shareholders are: Bulgarian Energy Holding (Bulgaria), Botas (Turkey), FGSZ1 (Hungary), OMV (Austria), RWE (Germany), Transgaz (Romania).
Each shareholder holds an equal share of 16.67% of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH. |
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Novinite
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