Natural gas supply projects for Europe – South Stream and Nabucco : master's thesis

Južni tok i Nabucco su planirani projekti južnog koridora za dobavu prirodnog plina u Europu. Južni tok je ruski projekt izgradnje plinovoda kapaciteta 63 milijarde m3 plina godišnje koji će povezati Rusiju s Austrijom i južnom Italijom preko Crnog mora, Bugarske, Srbije i Mađarske, odnosno preko Grčke i Jonskog mora. Nabucco je planirani plinovod Europske unije, kapaciteta 31 milijarde m3 plina godišnje, a ukoliko bude izgrađen povezati će Kaspijsku regiju i Srednji istok s Austrijom preko Turske, Bugarske, Rumunjske i Mađarske. Rezerve plina za transport punim kapacitetom Južnog toka su poznate i dostupne, međutim problem je skupa izgradnja. Izgradnja Nabucca bi trebala biti dvostruko jeftinija, no zbog kompleksnih političkih odnosa i neizgrađene infrastrukture zasada nisu dostupne rezerve plina za opskrbu ovog plinovoda. Mnoge države kao što su Bugarska i Mađarska uključene su u oba projekta, što ukazuje na važnost samih projekata. U radu je provedena SWOT analiza predloženih projekata koja je pokazala da se plinovod Nabucco vjerojatno neće graditi ukoliko se prvo izgradi Južni tok.Abstract: South Stream and Nabucco are planned southern corridor projects for natural gas supply to Europe. South Stream is a Russian construction project of the gas pipeline with the capacity of 63 bcm of natural gas per year. It will connect Russia with Austria through Black Sea, Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary, and with southern Italy through Greece and Ionian Sea, respectively. Nabucco is a European Union planned gas pipeline with the capacity of 31 bcm per year. If built, it will connect Caspian Region and Middle East with Austria through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. Gas sources for South Stream pipeline are known and available, however it's construction will be expensive. Nabucco gas pipeline construction costs will be two times less, but the unresolved political relations and non-existent infrastructure have caused it to have no available gas sources at the moment. Many countries like Bulgaria and Hungary are involved with both projects, indicating the importance of both projects. SWOT analysis of the proposed projects was done in the thesis and it has shown there is a great chance Nabucco won't be built if South Stream materializes first