The Norway Page: Failure of the Nabucco Project and Norwegian Connotations
Alliance of companies focused on extraction of natural gas in Azerbaijan (Shah Deniz gas field) refuse Nabucco West gas pipeline project and chose the more effective competitor of Nabucco – Trans Adriatic Pipeline project (TAP)
In this alliance are e. g. British BP also Norway’s Statoil and French Total or other regional companies. What does this mean for Norway?
Project Nabucco with EU support led almost throughout the entire Balkans and Eastern European countries to Western Europe. Nabucco was typically European idea of connection new European countries. Instead of that now win a pragmatic solution with advantage of shorter route and fewer countries involved – gas passes through Greece, Albania and under the Adriatic Sea directly to Italy. This eliminates the complex international negotiations. TAP used the infrastructure of the older members of the EU. Albania is smaller state, for which the presence of a gas pipeline is an interesting exclusive investment. It follows that part of the political project of the EU has been replaced by a classic investment project.