Reuters: OMV expects Nabucco decision by mid-2013

Austria's energy company OMV AG expects the consortium in charge of the Shah Deniz II gas field in Azerbaijan to decide definitively on a pipeline partner by mid-2013 to transport its gas to Europe, OMV's Chief Executive said on Wednesday.

BP operates the Shah Deniz II gas field, containing some 1.2 trillion cubic metres of gas, and holds a 25.5 percent stake, as does Statoil, with the rest divided between SOCAR, LUKOIL, NICO, Total and TPAO.

"It appears the pipeline decision will be made in the middle of 2013," Gerhard Roiss told a news conference in Vienna.

But Roiss added that the timing of a decision was up to Shah Deniz, and not the pipeline projects competing to transport its gas.

"I have always said we don't determine the timing of Nabucco. That is determined by the ones with the gas ... and that is what the consortium has informed us, that they intend to decide definitely by mid-2013."  MORE