FRANKFURT--Bayerngas GmbH, a publicly owned German-Austrian gas
procurement vehicle, no longer seeks a stake in the Nabucco gas
pipeline project that is competing to ship Caspian gas to central
Europe, the company said in a statement Monday.
Talks with the Nabucco pipeline consortium, which began in
October 2011, have now been abandoned, Bayerngas said.
It attributed its decision to a shift in strategy that now
foresees a focus on pipeline investment in Germany.
The six existing members of the Nabucco consortium include
German utility RWE AG (RWE.XE), Austria's OMV AG (OMV.VI) and
Hungary's MOL Nyrt (MOL.BU), each of which holds approximately
16.7%. RWE recently said it intends to sell its stake.
Earlier this month, a group of companies that are developing a
giant natural gas field in Azerbaijan--the Shah Deniz field--agreed
to help fund the Nabucco project.
Under this deal the Shah Deniz consortium, comprising
SOCAR--Azerbaijan's state-owned energy company--BP PLC (BP),
Statoil ASA (STL.OS) and Total SA (TOT), would get a 50% stake in
Nabucco if the project is selected to carry the gas to Europe.
The Nabucco consortium is competing for the gas against the
Trans-Adriatic pipeline project.
Write to Jan Hromadko at jan.hromadko@dowjones.com
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