NABUCCO Gas Pipeline International GmbH announced that the NABUCCO Shareholders ("OMV, BOTAS, BEH, Transgaz, RWE, FGSZ, hereinafter NABUCCO Shareholders") have signed today agreements in Vienna, Austria regarding:

- close cooperation to align the time schedule and project development of the NABUCCO West and Shah Deniz Stage 2 projects;
- joint funding of the costs of NABUCCO West’s further development up to Shah Deniz’s European pipeline selection decision; and
- granting to SOCAR, BP, Statoil and Total options to take up to a total of 50% equity in the project and to participate in a new NIC shareholder structure, following a positive selection of the NABUCCO West pipeline by the Shah Deniz Consortium.

The NABUCCO Shareholders welcome this important milestone in the development of NABUCCO West and anticipate successful cooperation in delivering the pipeline project. Key NIC executives underlined support both for the funding and for the possible new shareholders:

Hans-Peter Floren, Chairman of the NABUCCO Steering Committee, said: “The shareholders welcome this agreement, and fully support the ongoing cooperation with Shah Deniz II. NABUCCO is a multi-sourcing and scalable project further contributing to supply and transport diversification integrating the southern corridor into the European gas grid. Upstream and midstream projects are both integral parts of the value chain for Azeri gas and we are confident that NABUCCO provides a win-win scenario for all parties involved.

Reinhard Mitschek, CEO of NABUCCO Gas Pipeline International GmbH, said: “We welcome the conclusion of the agreements. NABUCCO has been in close negotiations with the Shah Deniz partners since the designation in June 2012 of NABUCCO West as the Central European delivery option. Today’s important achievement is a clear indicator of the potential success of this process and of the commerciality and competitiveness of NABUCCO West in offering convincing business opportunities in the promising market area of South East Europe and Central Europe.”

Frank Siebert, CFO of the NABUCCO Gas Pipeline International GmbH, said: “These agreements are an essential step forward. The signing of the equity option and funding agreement, in particular, is a mark of the producers’ confidence in NABUCCO West. This goes a long way towards mitigating risk for our investors and allows us to move forward on a sound and stable financial footing. We look forward to working with the Shah Deniz partners and remain confident that NABUCCO West can provide the best option for all parties.”

The NABUCCO West pipeline is planned to take Caspian Region gas from the Turkish-Bulgarian border via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary to the Central European Gas Hub at Baumgarten. As a central component of the Southern Gas Corridor, NABUCCO West is ideally placed to diversify gas supply to over 500 million potential customers in the growing economies of South Eastern Europe as well as onward into Western Europe.

Gas Pipeline International GmbH

NABUCCO Gas Pipeline International GmbH (NIC) was set up on 24 June 2004 to develop, construct and operate the Nabucco pipeline. Headquartered in Vienna, it is an unbundled midstream-company under EU law. NIC is owned by the Nabucco shareholders and is responsible for the development, construction, operation and capacity trading and allocation for the NABUCCO pipeline. NIC will be the only company in direct contact with the shippers and will offer a one-stop-shop solution, operating as an independent economic entity in the market, and acting independently from its parent companies. The pipeline system will be constructed by the National NABUCCO Companies (NNCs), which are subsidiaries of NIC in each of the transit countries.