Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH, the partnership that’s planning a 7.9 billion-euro ($11 billion) pipeline to Europe, is “confident” of getting enough fuel, including gas from the Azeri Shah Deniz field.

“We are confident it is possible to fill the pipeline,” Christian Dolezal, a spokesman for Nabucco, said today at a conference in Paris. “There is of course a lot of interest in gas also from other sides, but this doesn’t change anything.”

Nabucco aims to diversify gas supplies by bringing Caspian and Middle East gas to Austria via Turkey. The pipeline venture, led by Vienna-based OMV AG, is vying with Asian and Russian projects for access to Azeri, Turkmen, Iranian and Iraqi gas.

Nabucco, aiming to start operations in 2014, will get its first gas from Iraq and Azerbaijan, Dolezal said. Reinhard Mitschek, the project’s managing director, said earlier this month that 8 billion cubic meters of gas would come from Iraq in 2015, more than a quarter of the pipe’s total volume, and that Shah Deniz would provide the same amount.

The link, which will send as much as 31 billion cubic meters of Caspian-region gas a year to Europe, has been delayed by a lack of commitments from customers, suppliers and transit nations. First deliveries were originally planned for 2013.

GDF Suez Involvement

Nabucco’s partners, which also include Hungary’s Mol Nyrt., Germany’s RWE AG, Transgaz SA of Romania, Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD and Ankara-based Botas AS, have said they may bring in a further participant. That may be GDF Suez SA, which says it’s interested in the “concept” of Nabucco.

Officials from transit countries Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria signed an accord in Ankara in July, paving the way for the start of construction in 2011. Turkey had previously held off signing a transit agreement as it sought approval to take 15 percent of the gas passing through the pipe at discounted prices for its own use.

“The political barriers have been lifted; the question now is whether it’s a project or not,” Jean-Marie Dauger, GDF Suez executive vice president of global gas, said today in Paris. “Our idea is that it’s not a project but a concept.”

Nabucco’s partners are yet to secure gas volumes, and quantities from Azerbaijan are insufficient, Dauger said. “A pipeline without gas is what we could call a first mistake.”

Sarkozy Talks

OMV and RWE said Oct. 13 that France is interested in joining the project, citing discussions between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul.

“The consortium is open for a seventh partner,” Dolezal said today. “As soon as the shareholders receive an offer we’ll discuss. We are open, but not in negotiations.”

Nabucco would bypass Russia and Ukraine, helping Europe find an alternative to Moscow-based OAO Gazprom, which supplies about 25 percent of the region’s gas. Gas would flow into Turkey from three of four possible entry points: Georgia, Iran, Iraq and Syria, according to the European Union.

While Nabucco has been negotiating for gas deliveries with Azerbaijan, Iraq and Turkmenistan, Gazprom has signed supply contracts with Caspian producers, maintaining its monopoly on exports from former Soviet republics to Europe.

Gazprom’s planned Nord Stream pipeline, which also targets European customers, is on schedule to start shipments in 2011, the project’s Financial Director Paul Corcoran said in June. That would give it a three-year head start over the EU-backed Nabucco.

Nord Stream Stake

GDF Suez has also expressed interest in joining Nord Stream, whose other partners include BASF SE, E.ON AG and Nederlandse Gasunie NV.

“It’s a reasonable assumption” that there will be an agreement on Nord Stream this year, Dauger said today. The pipeline’s shareholders have accepted all the conditions for GDF Suez to acquire a 9 percent stake, he said.

The utility’s participation in the project hinges on its obtaining additional supplies of gas from Russia through the link. That could result in an extra 1 billion to 2 billion cubic meters a year, on top of the 10 billion cubic meters contracted in existing long-term accords with Russia, Dauger said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tara Patel in Paris at tpatel2@bloomberg.net; Amanda Jordan in London at ajordan11@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 21, 2009 09:20 EDT