EU Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger said that preparations
for the realization of the Nabucco gas pipeline have been made, and
OMV and other participants of the project should start its
construction, AFP reports.
The EU is paying special attention to Nabucco after incidents that
halted Russian gas supplies to Europe.
Nabucco is a competitor to the Southern Stream project, a pipeline
constructed by Russia's Gazprom and Italy's ENI. The Southern Stream
will transport gas along the Black Sea bed to Bulgaria.
Nabucco is a 3300-kilometre gas pipeline for gas transport from
Central Asia to South-Eastern Europe. It will run from Azerbaijan
through Turkey to Vienna.
The project is worth 7.9 billion euros. Its construction is expected
to start in 2012. The first gas supplies will be available in 2015.
OMV (Austria), MOL (Hungary), Bulgargaz (Bulgaria), Transgaz
(Romania), Botas (Turkey) and RWE (Germany) are participants of the
project. Each has a 16.67% share.
