German energy company RWE has said that it might abandon the Nabucco gas pipeline project.

"We are looking at the project to see if our commercial and strategic goals are still respected," an RWE spokesperson stated on Monday, as cited by international media.

A report had already emerged in Der Spiegel that company executives have been preparing politicians for the possibility RWE may exit the project.

In April, it was made clear that Hungarian energy company MOL is ready to sell its stake in the Nabucco natural gas pipeline project.

Nabucco, a joint venture of Mol, RWE AG (RWE), Vienna- based OMV AG (OMV), Bulgaria's Bulgargaz EAD, Romania's Transgaz SA and Ankara- based Boru Hatlari ile Petrol Tasima AS, or Botas, may be scaled down and linked up with the Trans-Anatolia Pipeline, known as Tanap, at the EU's southern border.

Nabucco was initially set to carry up to 31 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year from the Caspian region to Europe. It was expected to relieve Europe's dependence on Russian gas supplies.

The construction of the 4000-kilometer pipeline was set to start in 2013 and the first gas was expected to flow in 2017.

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