BOTAS Petroleum Pipeline Corporation

BOTAŞ Petroleum Pipeline Corporation (“BOTAS”) is the main Turkish transportation company active in the transportation of crude oil and natural gas by pipelines as well as in trade activities.

BOTAŞ, originally established to construct and operate the Iraq – Turkey Crude Oil Pipeline in 1974, has increased its crude oil transportation capacity through pipelines from 35 Million Tons to 80.2 Million Tons in the past 30 years, and has grown its natural gas transportation and trade carried out since 1987 by 35 times in 15 years and increased to 17.4 Billion m³. Taking into consideration Turkey’s increasing need for diversified energy sources, BOTAŞ’ original mission of transporting crude oil through pipelines has expanded since 1987 to cover the natural gas transportation and trade activities.

BOTAŞ’ monopoly rights on natural gas import, distribution, sales and pricing that were granted by Decree No.397 dated February 9, 1990, were abolished by the Natural Gas Market Law  No. 4646 which was enacted on May 2, 2001. The new Law covers the import, transmission, distribution, storage, marketing, trade and export of natural gas and the rights and obligations of all real and legal persons related to these activities.

Since its foundation, BOTAŞ has gradually raised on various dates its initial capital of TL 200 Million. The latest increase, from TL 750 Trillion to TL 1.300 Trillion entered into effect with the Decision of the High Planning Council No.  2002/T- 24, dated 9 August 2002.

Crude Oil transportation Activities and Related Facilities:

Since its foundation in 1974, BOTAŞ has instigated the construction and commissioning of various crude oil pipelines through which it carries out its crude oil transportation activities. BOTAŞ’ existing crude oil pipelines are as follows:

• Iraq-Turkey Crude Oil Pipeline,


• Ceyhan-Kırıkkale Crude Oil Pipeline,


• Batman-Dörtyol Crude Oil Pipeline,


• Şelmo-Batman Crude Oil Pipeline.

The total length of crude oil pipelines is 2300 km.

Natural Gas Transportation, Related Facilities and Trade:

The original mission of BOTAŞ, which had been transportation of crude oil through pipelines, expanded in 1987 to cover the natural gas transportation and trade activities, by taking into consideration increasing energy demand and according to results of studies on diversification of energy sources of Turkey.

BOTAŞ’ existing natural gas pipelines and related facilities are as follows:

• Russian Federation-Turkey Natural Gas Main Transmission Line ,


• İzmit-Karadeniz Ereğli Natural Gas Transmission Line,


• Bursa-Çan Natural Gas Transmission Line,


• Çan-Çanakkale Natural Gas Transmission Line,


• Eastern Anatolia Natural Gas Main Transmission Line,


• Samsun-Ankara Natural Gas Transmission Line.


• Karacabey-İzmir Natural Gas Transmission Line.


• Distribution Lines,


• Marmara Ereğlisi Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Import Terminal.

The total length of natural gas pipelines is 4500 km.

International Projects:

With Turkey being located at the crossroad between the Caspian and Middle East Countries, which are in possession of rich oil and gas reserves, and the Western Countries, which are in need of such resources, BOTAŞ has been called to participate in the implementation of various international projects. These projects are set out below:

• Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Crude Oil Pipeline Project;


• TransCaspian Turkmenistan-Turkey-Europe Natural Gas Pipeline Project;


• Azerbaijan Natural Gas Pipeline Project;


• Egypt-Turkey Natural Gas Pipeline Project;


• Iraq-Turkey Natural Gas Pipeline Project;


• Turkey -Greece- Natural Gas Pipeline Project (South European Gas Ring);


• Natural Gas Transportation Projects to Europe;
  
  
  
  • Turkey-Greece-Italy Natural Gas Pipeline Study; 
  
  
  • Turkey-Austria Natural Gas Pipeline Study (Nabucco)
  
  
  
  

BULGARIAN ENERGY HOLDING EAD

Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD (BEH EAD) was incorporated on 18.09.2008 with Minister of Economy and Energy Decision, after renaming Bulgargaz Holding EAD.

BEH EAD subject of activity is acquisition, management, assessment and sale of participations in trading companies, carrying out business activity in the fields of generation, production, transmission, transit, storage, management, distribution, sale and/or purchase of natural gas, electricity, thermal power, coals, as well as any other type of energy and raw materials for the production.

BEH EAD is a shareholding company with 100% state owned participation. The Holding includes Mini Maritsa Iztok EAD, Maritsa East 2 TPP EAD, Kozloduy NPP EAD, NEK EAD, Electricity System Operator EAD, Bulgargaz EAD, Bulgartransgaz EAD and Bulgartel EAD.

All companies, brought together in the holding structure, preserve their operational independence and licenses, as they are all owned and directly subordinated to the corporate centre BEH EAD.

After the consolidation of the energy companies, Bulgaria already has one of the largest energy company in the region and establishes a national energy leader, whose assets amount to some BGN 8.5 billion, consolidated revenue totals to some BGN 3.6 billion, the number of employees sums up at some 21 thousand people.

MOL Plc

MOL is a leading integrated oil and gas group in Central and Eastern Europe and one of the largest companies in the region in terms of sales revenues.

The core activities of MOL group include:

• Exploration and production of crude oil, natural gas and gas products


• Refining, transportation, storage and distribution of crude oil products in both retail and wholesale markets


• Transportation of natural gas


• The production and sale of olefins and polyolefins

MOL Plc is market leader in each of its core activities in Hungary and Slovakia. The Company´s main objective is to provide superior levels of shareholder return by fully exploiting its market potential, by implementing a dynamic development and expansion strategy and by realizing where possible the potential for further internal efficiency improvements. MOL shares are listed on the Budapest, Luxembourg and Warsaw Stock Exchanges and its GDRs are traded on London's International Order Book.

OMV Gas & Power GmbH.

OMV Gas & Power GmbH is a 100% affiliate of OMV Aktiengesellschaft, part of the holding company in the leading oil and gas group in Central Europe (CEE). OMV Aktiengesellschaft, Austria´s largest listed industrial company, is privately owned with 50.9% free float shares, 31.5% shares owned by ÖIAG (Österreichische Industrieholding AG) and 17.6% shares owned by IPIC (International Petroleum Investment Company). In 2004, for the first time, the free float represented the majority of the issued shares. The core activities of OMV Aktiengesellschaft comprise exploration and production, refining and marketing, and gas. With the acquisition of the Romanian “Petrom”, oil and gas production has more than quadrupled.

Gas is a core business of the OMV Group, which is active in all stages of the value chain. OMV Gas benefits from the availability of self produced gas through the physical integration of the Gas and Exploration and Production business, where OMV is active in 18 countries on five continents.

In a first unbundling step OMV Aktiengesellschaft spun off its gas activities into OMV Gas GmbH in 2001. By 2006 OMV Gas has implemented a new organisational structure: OMV Gas & Power (former OMV Gas International GmbH) was founded as a holding company for all gas activities within OMV. Under this umbrella there are separate “sister-companies” for sales and marketing and for transmission and storage. This is not only the final step towards a fully unbundled structure, but also an instrument to take on the challenges of the internalisation of the gas business.

OMV Gas GmbH as a 100% subsidiary of OMV Gas & Power GmbH plays a key role in gas transit, with one-third of all Russian gas exports to Western Europe passing through Baumgarten Hub. OMV will strengthen this position by expanding the existing transit system from 45 bcm at present to 60 bcm until 2011 and by linking new pipelines to the Baumgarten hub. Furthermore, 2,000 km pipeline network and the gas storage facilities of OMV Gas GmbH play an important role in safeguarding security of supply in Austria and beyond. The highly competitive storage and transportation costs build a solid base for OMV Gas’ competitive position. New pipeline routes from the gas rich Caspian region and the Middle East (the regions with the largest gas reserves in the world) to Central Europe should ensure security of supply. Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH as a 20% subsidiary of OMV Gas & Power GmbH plans to start with construction of this pipeline from the eastern border of Turkey to Austria´s Gas station Baumgarten in 2008, start of operation is planned for 2011. Another important project for Europe´s natural gas supply is the Adria LNG project, where OMV Gas & Power GmbH is involved.

The trading and marketing activities are carried out via EconGas GmbH (a subsidiary formed end of 2002, OMV Gas & Power GmbH interest of 50%) for Austria and the surrounding markets, and Petrom´s Gas division. EconGas is specialized in serving industrial consumers offering contractual and technical solutions like for example price stability guarantees, using modern risk management tools such as hedging.

RWE AG

RWE AG is one of Europe's leading electricity and gas companies, among Europe's five largest utilities. The Group, founded in 1898, is active in the generation and transmission as well as the sale and trading of electricity and gas. 63,000 employees supply 20 million customers with electricity and 10 million clients with gas. In fiscal year 2007, the Group recorded € 42.55 billion in revenue. RWE Supply & Trading GmbH unites RWE's successful wholesale trading activities with the long-term gas procurement, structuring and optimisation business. Thus RWE Supply & Trading GmbH is responsible for the economic optimisation of the entire non-regulated gas business of RWE Group with respect to procurement, transport and storage. In order to reach its goal, the company is engaging in pipeline projects and intensifying its business relationships with pipeline gas suppliers as well as with LNG suppliers. RWE Group currently handles a 40 bcm/a supply portfolio in Europe, operates gas pipelines of more than 23,000 km in length and gas storages with a capacity of 6.1 bcm.

TRANSGAZ S.A.

The National Company for Natural Gas Transmission (“TRANSGAZ S.A.”) was established pursuant to the Romanian Governmental Decision no. 334 dated 28 April 2000, further to the division of the National Gas Company “Romgaz” S.A.

The share capital is entirely owned by the Romanian State, represented by the Ministry of Economy and Trade (holding 85,003925% of the shares), and the Property Fund, (holding 14,996075% of the shares). TRANSGAZ has as the main object of its activities: gas transmission through pipeline. The scope of TRANSGAZ is the fulfilment of national strategy for transmission, international gas transit, dispatching and research projects in the natural gas transmission fields.

TRANSGAZ S.A. is the technical operator of the National Transmission System, which is part of the public domain, and assures, through highly qualified and professional personnel, the good functioning of the system under quality, safety, economic efficiency and environmental protection conditions.

The Company may also perform complementary and connected activities in support of the main object of activity (excepting the trade of gas from the domestic production or import), according to legislation now in force and its own by-laws. An example of this is research and project work within the natural gas transmission domain, which is carried out through the Subsidiary for Natural Gas Transmission – Research and Project Works, an entity with wide experience in this field.

TRANSGAZ S.A. uses infrastructure that is capable of transporting over 40,000 million cubic meters of gas per year. The main components of the National Transmission System are:

• 11,000 km of main pipelines with diameters ranging from 150 – 800 mm;


• Over 500 km international transit pipeline with a diameter of 1000 mm and 1200 mm respectively;


• 5 gas compressor stations on the pipeline routes;


• over 800 gas regulating – metering – delivery stations;


• over 700 cathodic protection stations for the gas transmission pipelines;


• its own telecommunication system afferent to the National Gas Transmission System.

The operation of the national transmission system is performed through nine regional offices, a Central Dispatching Office in Medias and a National Dispatching Centre with the main office in Bucharest.

With a view to a further development of the National Gas Transmission System, TRANSGAZ S.A. pays special attention to the possibility of interconnecting with the neighbouring gas transmission systems, in order to import gas from the Russian Federation (at present) or from other sources (in future), as well as to the development of the transit capacity on Romanian territory.

The National Company for the Natural Gas Transmission “TRANSGAZ” S.A. has planned, as an objective, the rehabilitation and modernisation of the National Gas Transmission System and related technological installations, along with improvement of the system operation efficiency.

The rehabilitation will consist of repair works, especially on the transmission pipelines and on the compressor units, as well as of modernisation work on the metering installations for transmitted gas, and on the specific equipment used in supporting the main activities (cathodic protection system, telecommunication system, etc.).

All these objectives are contained in the development strategy of the company for the following years. By achieving these objectives it is intended that Romania benefits from a modern and efficient natural gas transmission system, operating at European standards and which should be further integrated within the European energy network.