By Kerry Skyring and Nicole Lundeen
VIENNA--German utility RWE AG (RWE.XE) will be leaving the
consortium behind the proposed pipeline Nabucco West, Austrian oil
and gas company OMV AG (OMV.VI) Chief Executive Officer Gerhard
Roiss said Friday.
Consortium partner OMV appears to be the most likely to take
over RWE's stake in Nabucco.
"We are in talks," Mr. Roiss told journalists at the Club of
Economic Publishers when asked if OMV would be taking over RWE's
stake in the pipeline.
Mr. Roiss said RWE's withdrawal had nothing to do with the
chances of the pipeline's success. He added that should Nabucco not
come into existence, he wasn't planning a second pipeline.
Mr. Roiss declined to confirm whether the Shah Deniz Consortium
was looking to take a 50% share in the Nabucco Project. Mr. Roiss
said he expects the gas-field consortium to make a decision on
taking a stake in Nabucco sometime in the first half of next
year.
Nabucco West is one of two proposed pipelines to bring gas from
the Caspian Sea region to Europe, via Bulgaria, diversifying the
continent's supply of gas. The consortium behind the Shah Deniz gas
field in the Caspian Sea region is expected to make a final
decision between Nabucco and the proposed Trans Adriatic Pipeline,
which would deliver the gas via Greece and Italy.
Write to Nicole Lundeen and Kerry Skyring at
nicole.lundeen@dowjones.com
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