Key players from the Southern Corridor to meet at European Gas Conference

The European Gas Conference in Vienna in January next year will offer the first formal opportunity for the gas industry to come together and discuss the latest developments in the Southern Corridor following the Azerbaijan-Turkey gas deals.

According to Sandra Haines, European Gas Conference programme director, the “great pipeline debate” continues unabated. She explains: “over the last 12 months the focus on the Southern Corridor and especially Azeri gas has intensified. BP operates the Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan (along with Statoil, SOCAR, Total, LukAgip, NIOC and TPAO) and there are an estimated 1.5 billion – 3 billion barrels of gas in this field. “

Says Sandra Haines: “Competitors are now jostling for position to supply Europe with Azeri gas, which will bypass Russia completely and the major pipelines, Nabucco, TAP and ITGI, have all submitted proposals to SOCAR to transport the gas. To complicate matters, plans for a 4th pipeline – the South East Europe Pipeline (SEEP) were recently unveiled.”

She continues: “A decision on how to transport gas from the Shah Deniz field is expected later this year and Azeri gas is expected to hit the European market by 2017.”

Confirmed speakers for the pipeline debate include:
· Kjetil Tungland, Managing Director, Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG
· Paul Corcoran, Finance Director, Nord Stream
· Reinhard Mitschek, Managing Director, Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH

The 3rd Energy Package report back
Gas networks will also report back on their initial experiences of implementing the 3rd Energy Package during the European Gas Conference. Sandra Haines explains, “It is likely to be some time until the legislation is fully implemented and the 2012 conference will offer insight into the first hand experiences of those implementing The 3rd Energy Package; the challenges they have faced and their future strategy.”

Global LNG
The Vienna conference will also look at the global LNG market and its relationship with Europe. “This is in light of the fact that the discovery of shale gas in the USA means that, rather than importing gas, they may one day in the future export gas as LNG to Europe,” says Sandra.

The future of natural gas
The Fukushima disaster in Japan earlier this year had serious ramifications for the nuclear industry with Germany quickly announcing it would decommission its nuclear power plants by 2022. “This means that Europe will be looking to sustainable and renewable sources of energy. As the cleanest of all the fossil fuels, natural gas is therefore a viable option and demand is likely to increase as nuclear power plants are decommissioned.”

First European Gas Conference Awards
The first European Gas Conference Awards are being run in conjunction with respected publisher Natural Gas for Europe. There are four different categories, LNG Project of the Year, Pipeline Project of the Year, TSO of the Year and Executive of the Year. The awards will be presented during the gala dinner on the 25 January 2012.

More speaker highlights:
· Reinhold Mitterlehner, Federal Minister of Economy, Family and Youth, Austrian Government
· Sergei Komlev, Head of Directorate, Contract Structuring and Price Formation, Gazprom Export
· Stuart Bradfor, Head of Strategy, Marketing & Analysis, Shell Energy Europe
· Valery Nemov, Contract Structuring and Price Formation, Gazprom Export
· H.Haken Unal, Expert, Gas Transmission Management, BOTAS
· Walter Pareraer, CEO, Fluxys

Event dates and location:
24 January 2012: Global LNG Day
25-26 January 2012: Conference days
27 January 2012: Post-conference master class
Location: Vienna Marriott Hotel, Parkring, Vienna, Austria

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This release was published on openPR.