VIENNA, July 25 (UPI) -- Austrian energy company OMV said it had to reduce the value of its assets in its earnings report because of the planned Nabucco West natural gas pipeline.
OMV in April announced it took on a 17 percent interest in the Nabucco West pipeline held by German energy company RWE. A BP-led consortium operating in the Shah Deniz natural gas field off Azerbaijan in June selected the Trans-Adriatic pipeline over the Nabucco West project as its conduit for European markets.
The company said in a statement e-mailed Thursday it would take a one-time loss for the second quarter of $73 million "resulting from the write-down of assets in relation to the Nabucco West project."
Nabucco shareholders said they were considering their next steps in light of the BP decision.
In terms of overall production, OMV said there was a decrease of 1.6 percent because of flooding in Austria, "technical problems" in Kazakhstan and labor strikes in Libya.
It said much of its second quarter problems were offset by higher gas sales. Its earnings, however, were expected to be lower because of lower oil prices early this year despite the positive results from a strong U.S. dollar when weighed against the euro.
