Nabucco West shareholder remix expected

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VIENNA, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Membership of the group behind the planned Nabucco West natural gas pipelines could change as the project develops, an executive said.

In June, the BP-led consortium working in the Shah Deniz II natural gas project in Azeri waters of the Caspian Sea chose Nabucco West as a potential project to transport natural gas to Europe.

Nabucco West is a smaller version of the original $10 billion Nabucco pipeline.

Gerhard Roiss, chief executive officer at stakeholder OMV, said Azerbaijan could take on a stake in the project consortium.

"We have said it will have a different structure from today and we have always said that upstream countries should be part of Nabucco," he was quoted by the Platts news service as saying.

OMV, Romanian energy company Transgaz, Bulgarian Energy Holding, German company RWE, Turkish energy group BOTAS and Hungary's MOL hold equal shares in Nabucco.

Sorin Keszeg, director of international relations for Transgaz, told Bloomberg News last month that MOL was stalling on financing for Nabucco while it waited for the BP group to vet various pipeline projects.

"MOL may reconsider its position on the planned capital increase, since Shah Deniz partners said they favor Nabucco. If MOL doesn't, its stake will be diluted," he said.

A decision by the BP-led group is expected next year.