EU supports Nabucco project planning gas transportation from Azerbaijan to Europe

Commenting on the mentioning of the Nabucco gas pipeline in the final declaration of the European Union, the Prime Minister called this step as support of the project at the level of Europe. He expressed Romania's keen interest in the implementation of this project.

The Nabucco pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline that is planned to transport Caspian natural gas from Turkey to Austria, via Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. Some consider the pipeline as a diversion from the current methods of importing natural gas solely from Russia.

Construction of the 3,300-kilometre pipeline is expected to begin in 2008 and is planned to be finished in 2011. The construction work, estimated to cost 4.6 billion EUR (5.8 billion USD), is to be shared between the five gas companies in each of the countries.

EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said in Bucharest that investing in the Nabucco pipeline is the priority for European leadership and donor states support this idea. APA