November 6 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria said on Friday it will contribute 1.3 million euro to the capital increase of the Nabucco Gas Pipeline International consortium, in which it holds a stake.
Gas monopoly Bulgargaz, Austria's OMV, Germany's RWE, Hungary's MOL, Turkey's Botas, and Romania's Transgaz are partners in the tie-in that would build and operate the 7.9 billion euro ($11.7 billion) Nabucco pipeline designed to carry Caspian gas to Europe.
The Bulgarian contribution will be paid in by Bulgargaz, the company's parent group BEH said in a statement. Each shareholder will contribute the same amount to the capital hike worth a total of some 8.1 million euro, BEH said.
The planned capacity of the 3,300-kilometre pipeline is 31 billion cubic meters (bcm) a year. First deliveries are expected in 2014 or 2015.
This is the second capital increase of the consortium this year. Following the increase in August, to which BEH contributed some 2.0 million euro, the consortium's capital reached 773.8 million euro.
The EU-backed Nabucco is considered as rival to the 10 billion euro South Stream gas pipeline, a joint project of Russia's Gazprom and Italy's ENI, designed to carry 63 bcm of Russian gas yearly to Austria and Italy under the Black Sea and via Bulgarian territory.
($ = 0.6728 euro)
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