The Austrian oil and gas
company OMV, which is participating in the NordStream 2 gas pipeline
construction project, does not view the Turkish Stream as a direct rival,
Executive Board member Manfred Leitner told a press conference Wednesday.
"I don’t see actual
competition here," he said.
"If we take a look at
future transit gas flows supplies (to Central Europe - TASS) may flow through
south-east from Turkey and some volumes of gas are likely to meet on the market
but this will not influence the project’s implementation," Leitner added.
According
toLeitner,OMV expects that the joint venture for implementation of
the Nord Stream 2 project can resolve the situation with objections of the
Polish regulator against the project.
"We are now preparing
an answer. There is a number of points that we will be able to explain,"
he said.
Leitner reminded that the
deadline for clarification is August 16.
Asset swap with
Gazprom
Chief executive officer
Rainer Seele went on to say thatOMV plans to sign legally binding
documents on asset swap with Gazprom by the end of 2016.
"We’re planning to
sign legally binding documents on asset swap by the end of the year," he
said, adding that "following this Gazprom’s share in OMV’s subsidiary in
the North Sea will be defined, and only then we’ll logically launch reconciliation
procedures in Russia and Europe."
According to Seele, Gazprom
needs some time to define the reserves of oil and gas fields in the North Sea.
In September 2015, Gazprom
and OMV inked the term sheet regarding an asset swap. Subject to the swap deal,
OMV will acquire a 24.98% stake in the project for developing Blocks 4A and 5A
of the Achimov deposits at the Urengoy oil, gas and condensate field in
exchange for Gazprom’s participating interest in OMV.
In April 2016, the
companies signed the second agreement on the main terms of the exchange of
assets, which identifies assets for participating in the transaction on the
part of OMV. Particularly, OMV offered assets on the Norwegian shelf and in the
North Sea for exchange. In end-June Austrian media said the position of Norwegian
authorities might hinder the completion of the deal.
Earlier Seele also said
"it might take a year or two to get the authorities’ approval."
(ITAR-TASS)