The European Commission has allocated 2.3 billion euro for the realization of gas and energy projects, 200 million euro of which will go on the building of gas pipeline Nabucco. At the same time, the new EU commissioner on energy, Gunter Ettinger, declared the money is frozen until final approval of investment decision, Kommersant writes.
At the end of last week, the European Commission named 43 energy projects that are intended to “contribute considerably to the restoration of economy of the EU and to increase the security of energy deliveries by means of creation of the cross-border infrastructure.” On the realization of 31 gas and 12 electricity projects were allocated 2.3 billion euro. This is the largest amount of money the EU has spent on energy infrastructure in its history. According to the commission, the new projects are intended to guarantee the energy security of the European Union in case of the cessation of gas and oil delivery from Russia.
As Ettinger has explained, the selected projects will allow the creation of a “more integrated energy system in Europe” by means of building a single network of gas pipelines in the EU that will enable reserve (backwards) deliveries for any country from the EU, reducing the isolation of Baltic, Irish and Maltese countries. Although the support of the Nabucco project is intended to increase the security of gas deliveries, the EU doesn’t conceal that money on it will be allocated only in case of approval of final investment decision. Otherwise it will be divided between the other infrastructural energy projects.
The decision of the beginning of building Nabucco or of it’s final closing will be adopted by the EU before the end of the year at a special conference in Brussels. The prospects for implementing Nabucco depend on the ability of EU to conclude a 30-year strategic deal on gas deliveries from Turkmenistan.
The project of gas pipeline 3,500 kilometers long from Central Asia and the Caspian Sea region around Russia through Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Bulgaria, Hungary, Rumania and Austria is estimated to cost 7.9 billion euros.
