German utility RWE AG Friday said a decision on whether to invest in the European Union-backed Nabucco natural gas pipeline will be made only in 2011.

"In light of the still pending gas supply contracts the original schedule can't be met" said an RWE spokesman, confirming a statement by Michael Ulbrich, an executive at OMV AG (OMV.VI) with responsibility for pipeline projects.

Ulbrich told Austrian newspaper Der Standard: "This year we certainly won't make it, it will be in 2011."

The shareholders in Nabucco, which is slated to carry Caspian region gas 3,000 kilometers to Western Europe, are Botas (Turkey), Bulgarian Energy Holding (Bulgaria), MOL (Hungary), OMV (Austria), RWE (Germany), Transgaz (Romania), each holding an equal share of 16.67%.

The European Union puts high hopes in Nabucco for effecting the much-vaunted European South Energy Corridor in a bid to ensure the security of gas deliveries to Europe and decrease dependence on Russia.

It is seen as a rival to the South Stream gas pipeline project sponsored by Russia, to which Bulgaria is a also a party.

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