Austrian oil and gas company OMV has opened the representative office of OMV Gas International in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan.
The aim of opening this new office is to co-ordinate future activities of OMV on-site. In addition, in the course of his visit, the minister of economics, Martin Bartenstein, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with his Azerbaijani counterpart, the minister of industry and energy, Natiq Aliyev. This MoU aims to lay the foundation for procuring natural gas from Azerbaijan and for the integration of Azerbaijanian gas volumes into the Nabucco gas pipeline.
Azerbaijan is one of the countries from which natural gas is planned to be transported to Europe via the Nabucco gas pipeline. In accordance with the MoU, OMV and SOCAR, the state oil company of Azerbaijan, will commence detailed talks regarding the procurement and transport of natural gas to Baumgarten via the Nabucco pipeline.
In addition, the MoU emphasizes that Azerbaijan is in the position to play a leading role in the transport of natural gas from the Caspian region to Europe.
Wolfgang Sporrer, who previously was in charge of the EU Europe House in Baku, will be the head of the representative office.