Nabucco Gas Pipeline, the entity operating the namesake project that is to supply natural gas to Europe, said in an official statement that a consortium of strategic investors has conditionally agreed to acquire half of a stake in the project. The consortium, Shah Deniz 2, will take a 50% share of the pipeline if it chooses Nabucco as its export route to European markets.
Shah Deniz 2 includes European oil and gas majors BP (BP -1.17%), Statoil (EQNR -0.07%), and Total (TTE -1.28%), as well as SOCAR, a firm owned and operated by the country of Azerbaijan. It is developing the largest gas field in that nation.
Nabucco was originally conceived to funnel around 32 billion cubic meters of gas from Central Asia to Europe, although the project has since been scaled down. It is still in the planning stages; its shareholders hope it will be operational by mid-2017.
