FACTBOX-Major energy pipelines in central/south Europe

Wed May 13, 2009 12:11pm EDT
 
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May 13 (Reuters) - Here are some key facts on major oil or gas pipelines in central and southeastern Europe:

* NABUCCO - A 7.9 billion euro ($10.69 billion) project to transport gas from Turkey to Austria through Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. Construction of the 3,300-km (2,050 mile) pipeline is scheduled to start in 2011 and first deliveries are expected in 2014 with an initial annual capacity of 8-10 bcm.

It could transport up to 31 bcm of gas a year from Central Asia and the Middle East to Europe by 2020, reducing dependency on Russian gas, and may be used to bring Iranian gas to Europe.

Austrian oil and gas group OMV (OMVV.VI) heads the consortium which includes Hungary's MOL MOLB.BU, Turkey's Botas, Bulgaria's Bulgargaz, Romania's Transgaz (TGNM.BX), and German utility RWE (RWEG.DE).

* SOUTH STREAM - Gazprom (GAZP.MM) and Italian oil firm Eni (ENI.MI) plan to build a 10 billion euro ($13.53 billion) pipeline, seen as a rival to Nabucco, to take Russian gas under the Black Sea to south-eastern Europe, avoiding Ukraine with which Russia has had pricing debates.

* AMBO - The 900-km AMBO Trans-Balkan Oil Pipeline is planned to transport Caspian or Russian oil from Bulgaria's Burgas via Macedonia to the Albanian Adriatic sea port of Vlores. AMBO, the Albanian Macedonian Bulgarian Oil Corp. plans to commission the pipeline in 2011 and to transport crude of 750,000 barrels/day or around 40 million tonnes/year.

* TRANS ADRIATIC PIPELINE (TAP) - The 520 km pipeline will transport gas via Greece and Albania across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy from 2012.

TAP is a 50/50 joint venture between Swiss EGL (EGL.S) and Norway's StatoilHydro (STL.OL) and is expected to cost about 1.5 billion euros to build.

It will initially have a capacity of 10 billion cubic metres (bcm) a year but could be expanded to bring up to 20 bcm/year of gas from the Caspian Sea and Middle East regions into Europe.

* MEDGAZ - The 210 km deepwater pipeline, of which construction started in March 2008, will carry up to 8 bcm/year of Algerian gas to Spain when it opens in late-2009.

The project is being built by Algerian state gas company Sonatrach and a consortium of Spanish and French companies to help diversify European supplies and cut dependence on Russia.

* GALSI - The Galsi gas pipeline could bring up to 10 bcm/year of Algerian gas to Italy through Sardinia when it opens in 2012. Major shareholders include state-run Algerian gas company Sonatrach, Italian power generator Edison (EDN.MI) and utility Enel (ENEI.MI).

* PAN-EUROPEAN OIL PIPELINE (PEOP) - Due to start operating in 2012, will connect the Romanian port of Constanta with Trieste in Italy, via Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. The 1,400 km long pipeline, worth between $2 billion and $3.5 billion, will supply refineries in northern Italy and central Europe with crude from the Caspian. It will have an annual capacity of 1.2-1.8 million barrels per day (bpd).

* BAKU-TBILISI-CEYHAN - The $4 billion BP-led (BP.L) pipeline was opened in June 2006. Its capacity is one million bpd of Azeri crude. It ran 1,770 km to Turkey's Ceyhan port in 2008. It is the first pipeline to carry large volumes of crude from the Caspian without going through Russia.

* CASPIAN PIPELINE CONSORTIUM (CPC) - Connects Kazakhstan's Caspian Sea oil deposits with Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. Although the 1,510-km CPC pipeline transverses Russia and was developed in conjunction with the Russian government, it was the first to give the Caspian Sea region and Kazakhstan a viable alternative to the Russian dominated northern export routes. Its shareholders plan to double CPC's annual capacity from 33 million tonnes by 2013.

* DRUZHBA - Russia's Druzhba (Friendship) oil pipeline starts in Russia's Samara and ends in the northern Adriatic port of Omisalj in Croatia, connecting Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. It has a planned capacity of over 2 million bpd, of which some 1.4-1.6 million bpd go directly to consumers in the European Union and the rest stays in Belarus.  Continued...

 

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