The EU-sponsored gas transit pipeline Nabucco has achieved much progress so far, Reinhard Mitschek, Managing Director of the Vienna-based Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH said for Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency).

Mitschek commented on the statement of a spokesman of German energy company RWE, one of the shareholders at the Nabucco consortium, cited by the Austrian paper Der Standard, that RWE will decide only in 2011 if it will invest in Nabucco.

"Nabucco's progress has been very positive so far. This year saw the start of the Environmental & Social Impact Assessment with the first round of public hearings taking place in Hungary and Turkey already, and we have almost finalised the prequalification process for suppliers of long lead items. The Open Season process will start towards the end of 2010," Mitschek said.

"The Final Investment Decision will be taken in 2011 and we expect construction to start in 2012 and the first gas to flow in 2014/2015, depending on the availability of sources. The reason for this slight shift is that we have to align ourselves with the upstream infrastructure and the availability of gas supply. From the suppliers' side sufficient gas flow can be expected from 2015," explained the Managing Director of the Nabucco consortium.

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.

Bulgaria and Turkey have recently coordinated their plans to demand that a new natural gas pipeline linking them be granted EU funding to become the first operational section of Nabucco.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!