Nigeria, Algeria, Niger seal gas pipeline deal ( Natural Gas for Europe....)

Breitbart ^ | Jul 3 12:49 PM US/Eastern | AFP

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Three African countries on Friday signed an accord to build a 10-billion-dollar trans-Saharan gas pipeline linking vast reserves in Nigeria to Europe.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Don’t have any detail...this could cut into the Russian blackmail...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Another deal:

Nabucco Summit Opens Amid Questions Of Funding, Supply

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January 27, 2009

By Bruce Pannier

BUDAPEST -- From the eastern Caspian region through parts of the Middle East and on into the European Union, many people are waiting to see if Europe's flagship natural-gas pipeline project will move from plans on paper toward reality.

The Hungarian government is hosting a one-day international conference on the Nabucco pipeline project, which aims to import gas from the Caspian and Middle East to the heart of Europe.

The conference coincidentally follows a pricing dispute earlier this month between Russia and Ukraine that left gas supplies cut off to large parts of Europe for nearly two weeks.

The EU currently gets about a quarter of its natural gas, and about 40 percent of its imported gas, from Russia, with some countries almost entirely dependent on those supplies. Ukrainian pipelines carry approximately 80 percent of the Russian gas bound for the EU.

The shutoff, which came amid some of the coldest winter weather in years, sent the EU scrambling for alternatives to increasingly unreliable Russian gas and Ukrainian transit lines.

In the process, it boosted the profile of projects like Nabucco -- designed to circumvent both Russia and Ukraine -- just ahead of the conference.

The Nabucco pipeline aims to deliver 31 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas to Europe annually. That represents less than 10 percent of Europe's needs, but symbolically, it would help to loosen Russia's strengthening grip on European gas imports.

The pipeline would run 3,300 kilometers from eastern Turkey through Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary, ending in Austria. Initially, supplies are expected to come primarily from Azerbaijan, on the western side of the Caspian Sea.

Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan may eventually join on from the eastern Caspian region, and several Middle East states may eventually become suppliers as well. Nabucco officials have even considered Iran and Russia as potential source countries, despite political concerns.

The project is due to be completed in 2013. To date, however, not a single segment of pipe has been laid. The cost, originally estimated at 4.4 billion euros ($ billion), was recently revised to nearly double that amount.

[RobbyS]

Yes, BIG deal!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

More.........:

EU-Turkey to sign Nabucco pipeline deal

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Sofia: 14 hours and 45 minutes ago

EU nations and Turkey said on Friday they will sign a key intergovernmental agreement in Ankara on July 13 on Europe's flagship Nabucco gas pipeline project, but key issues still need to be resolved.

Turkish officials said that invitations had been sent to the relevant parties and one official in Ankara said that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan would host the signing ceremony, according to a report in our sister publication, the Gulf Daily News.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on a visit to Romania that Nabucco, which is planned to reduce Europe's dependency on Russian gas imports, was a "priority" and a "very important, strategic project" for his country.

He added that it would "ensure co-operation between the participating states and will solve the general energy problem that faces mankind."

The European Commission, which is not a signatory to the agreement but has been a key proponent of the pipeline and could sign up as an observer once legal details are ironed out it, confirmed that it had been invited.

"The commission has received an invitation to the signing ceremony of the intergovernmental agreement on the Nabucco pipeline on July 13 in Ankara," a spokesman on energy issues said.

He declined to provide details about the agreement, saying only that it would provide a legal framework including deciding on the allocation of gas for each country that the pipeline would go through.

The agreement is due to be signed by Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey, all the countries through which Nabucco will flow.

The 3,300km pipeline is to pump gas from the Caspian Sea to Austria while bypassing Russia - the main source of Europe's gas.

The project is planned to become operational in 2014 and estimated to cost 7.9 billion euros ($10.6 billion). – TradeArabia News Service

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More:

Nabucco not at risk from Russia-Azerbaijan gas deal: Turkey

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Russian Gazprom's recent deal to buy natural gas from Azerbaijan will not endanger Europe's flagship pipeline project Nabucco, Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said here Friday.

"One must not think that these projects will have any reciprocal effect on each other, or influence each other in a negative way," Davutoglu said during a visit to Romania.

"We do not see these energy projects as competing projects, we believe all these projects can serve our interests regarding energy," he added during a joint press conference with his Romanian counterpart Cristian Diaconescu.

Russian gas giant Gazprom clinched a deal Monday to buy natural gas from ex-Soviet Azerbaijan, casting doubts on the viability of the European Union's long-delayed Nabucco project, for which Azerbaijan is seen as a crucial potential provider.

Nabucco is aimed at reducing Europe's energy reliance on Moscow by finding other sources of gas.

Davutoglu insisted however Friday that Nabucco was a "priority" and a "very important, strategic project" for his country.

He added he was convinced that it will "ensure cooperation between the participating states and will solve the general energy problem that faces mankind."

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

More:

Russia clinches gas contract with Azerbaijan

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Russian gas giant Gazprom clinched a deal Monday to buy natural gas from ex-Soviet Azerbaijan, as Moscow seeks to extend its grip on potential European energy supplies in the resource-rich Caspian Sea.

The agreement was signed by Gazprom chief executive Alexei Miller and Azerbaijani national energy company chief Rovnag Abdullayev in the presence of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev.

"I think that we will be able to take this work further, in view of greater opportunities and greater volumes, which will be increased," Medvedev told journalists in Baku.

Miller said Gazprom's purchases would start at 500 million cubic metres of gas annually as of January 1, 2010, with the agreement allowing for supply levels to increase later.

"The price will be commercially attractive for Azerbaijan because we are neighbouring countries so there are no transit states between us," Miller said, without providing further details.

"We can therefore begin to buy the gas quickly. There is already a gas pipeline between us," Miller said, adding that the gas would be used for Russian domestic consumption.

Miller said the deal will also see Gazprom listed as a preferential buyer for gas from the second development phase of Azerbaijan's enormous Shah Deniz offshore field.

"Among all potential buyers, preference will be given to Gazprom and the others will have to offer a more interesting price," Miller said.

Production at the Shah Deniz field, estimated to contain up 1.2 trillion cubic metres of gas, began in 2006 and a second phase of development is expected to see production ramp up by 2015.

Monday's deal could cast doubts on the viability of the European Union's ambitious Nabucco pipeline project, aimed at bypassing Russia to deliver Caspian Sea gas to western Europe.

[Steven Tyler]

But what about the CO2-Al, 0bama and Waxman will be mad!!

[Marine_Uncle]

"Don’t have any detail...this could cut into the Russian blackmail..."
Good show. As with the linked articles you posted, it does seem like some non Russian pipelines could help out quite a bit. As indicated the bulk would still be out of Russian and the Ukraine but never the less, it would demonstrate to Russia, that it has to be a bit more how should I say congenial and not allow Europeans to freeze to death during the cold winters they should expect from herein.
The Russians have been control freaks for to long. They have to understand no one trusts them for starters. Their track record taint exactly one of good will and honest trade.

[yazdankurd]

nigaz?

[Marine_Uncle]

"Don’t have any detail...this could cut into the Russian blackmail..."
Agree. If it could basically offset shortfalls from the Baku fed pipeline, then who knows, the Russians may be put on notice that they no longer have parts of Europe by the throat, at least from a natural gas viewpoint. Off course there is always the little problem of realized longevity of a given field.