Nabucco gas pipeline could be compare to opera, which was been a repertoire of the European operas for a while, but then disappeared, said Gasprom President Aleksei Miller.
“For 12 years the opera has been on all European stages. Two years ago it disappeared from the repertoire. There is Russian proverb: “No matter how long you say “halva,” your mouth will not get sweeter. The truth of the matter is that nobody can replace Russian gas in Europe,” added Miller.
Nabucco project envisaged construction of 3,300-long-km gas pipeline from the Caspian Sea region to Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria and other countries of Central and Western Europe through Near East and bypassing Russia. Cost of the project was estimated at 8 billion Euro in 2013.
Nabucco gas pipeline could become a replacement of the Southern Stream for Europe. But Gasprom has never considered Nabucco as a competitor. “Unlike Nabucco, we have everything – gas, orders, equipment and experience of gas pipelines construction and operation. This is where we come from,” said Alexander Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of Board of Gasprom.
Meanwhile, Gasprom has refused to build half of the capacities of the Turkish Stream. Now the gas pipeline with the capacity of 32 billion cub.m. of gas a year suits Russia. “We consider the capacities on the north (North Stream-2),” added Miller. Initially capacity of the Turkish Stream was planned to be 63.5 billion cub.m. of gas a year.
In the coming five-seven years gas shortage at the German market will total 30 billion cub.m., said Miller when asked about the necessity to build North Stream-2 gas pipeline. North Stream-2 is planned to be launched in 2019.
