By Ali Ulucay
FRANKFURT--German utility RWE AG (RWE.XE) plans to exit the
Nabucco pipeline consortium, one of two European pipeline projects
that are presently competing to ship natural gas from Azerbaijan to
Europe by 2018, two people familiar with the matter told Dow Jones
newsletter Energy Daily Monday.
The people said RWE seeks to sell its 16.6% stake in the Nabucco
project this year.
They added that RWE's decision to exit the project is due to a
dispute with Austria's OMV AG (OMV.VI), another key member of the
Nabucco consortium, over the future shareholder structure of the
pipeline company.
The dispute is related to recent comments from the Shah Deniz 2
gas field consortium, which said in early November that it intends
to take up to 50% in the Nabucco consortium. While RWE would
welcome the consortium talking a majority stake in Nabucco, OMV
seeks to retain control of the gas transit, the people said.
RWE, OMV and the Nabucco pipeline company declined to comment on
the matter.
Talks between the Shah Deniz 2 consortium and Nabucco
shareholders over a participation of the gas producers in the
pipeline project are ongoing at present and Nabucco has said it
hopes to conclude these talks this year.
BP PLC (BP), France's Total SA (TOT) and Azerbaijan's state oil
company Socar are jointly developing the giant gas field Shah Deniz
2 off the Azeri Caspian Sea coast. About 10 billion cubic meters of
gas from this field are earmarked for European markets from around
2018.
--Jan Hromadko contributed to this article.
Write to Ali Ulucay at ali.ulucay@dowjones.com
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