UPDATE: RWE CEO:Co Stands By Bulgaria Nuclear Plant Commitment
August 13 2009 - 11:03AM
Dow Jones News
German utility RWE AG (RWE.XE) "is ready to live up" to the
commitment it has made as a partner in the consortium that plans to
build a nuclear power plant in Bulgaria, but financing needs to be
arranged by its partner, the Bulgarian government, Chief Executive
Juergen Grossmann said Thursday.
"I can't say that the project is already financed," Grossmann
told analysts in a conference call.
RWE owns a 49% stake in a joint venture with Bulgaria's
state-owned National Electricity Co. that seeks to build the
2-gigawatt EUR4 billion reactor near the town of Belene. The power
plant is planned to begin operations in 2014.
The new Bulgarian government recently said it would review the
justification for big energy projects, including Belene, because of
the economic crisis.
The government's comments were followed by media reports that
said the Belene project is on the brink of failing due to lack of
financing.
RWE's Grossmann Thursday said he met with Bulgarian government
officials, and that the government is starting to live up to its
commitment.
He added, however, that Bulgaria also needs to secure financing
for the 3,300 Nabucco gas pipeline, in which RWE is also a partner,
saying the country will have to set priorities.
Nabucco is considered crucial to secure Europe's growing demand
for natural gas as domestic supply is steadily falling. The
pipeline, with a planned capacity of up to 31 billion cubic meters
of gas a year, would further diversify Europe's supply sources,
bypassing traditional pipeline routes for Russian gas.
RWE is part of the consortium that plans to build the 3,300
kilometer-long Nabucco pipeline, which aims to ship natural gas to
Europe from Central Asia via Turkey and Austria. The Nabucco
consortium comprises RWE, OMV AG (OMV.VI) of Austria, MOL Nyrt
(MOL.BU) of Hungary, Transgaz of Romania, Bulgargaz of Bulgaria and
Botas of Turkey. Each of the shareholders own a 16.67% stake in the
consortium.
Company Web site: www.rwe.com
-By Jan Hromadko, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29 725 503;
jan.hromadko@dowjones.com