Turkey reaffirms support to Nabucco

"Turkey's stance is quite clear," Guler said in a speech delivered at the summit. "Turkey can work very fast in the project as long as other partners get a move on it."

Guler said the project was important for Europe's energy security and strategy, stressing the Nabucco project should be initiated and completed in the shortest time possible.

The Nabucco pipeline summit, attended by representatives from a dozen countries, the European Union (EU) and two European banks, met in the wake of the recent energy crisis triggered by a gas pricing row between Russia and Ukraine.

Energy minister also said that it was understood that the Nabucco project could not be implemented without Turkey.

EU SUPPORT

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, who holds the European Union's rotating presidency, said it was time for the bloc to move the project forward to reduce the continent's dependence on Russian gas and diversify supply, Reuters reported.

The 3,300-kilometre (2,050-mile) Nabucco pipeline, the construction of which has yet to begin, will ultimately transport up to 31 billion cubic meters of gas each year from the Caspian Sea to western Europe via Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary with Austria, bypassing Russia and Ukraine.

The importance of Nabucco for the European Union (EU) and Turkey, who are dependent on imported gas, was heightened by the recent tension and disagreement between Russia and Ukraine.

The pipeline currently has six shareholders -- OMV of Austria, MOL of Hungary, Transgaz of Romania, Bulgargaz of Bulgaria, Botas of Turkey and RWE of Germany. The consortium recently raised the cost estimate for the project to about 7.9 billion euros ($10.49 billion) from an initial projection of 4.4 billion euros.

EU FINANCING SOUGHT

Hungary's Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, the conference host, had said the EU should help finance Nabucco because it was an issue of national security and not a commercial project.

"Having or not having energy could become a question of national sovereignty and stability," Reuters quoted Gyurcsany as saying.

"It's time for the EU to take on the (financial) risks private companies are not willing to take on as they clearly see this is not simply a business enterprise."

Gyurcsany called on the EU provide within months up to 300 million euros in non-refundable capital financing to Nabucco and further loans through the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

But European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said that although the EU could provide loans and guarantees, it should not consider providing capital financing.

"I believe that we can facilitate getting loans in such a difficult situation of the credit crunch," Piebalgs told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.

"But not go beyond it because then it doesn't make sense, because then it's not anymore the consortium's project but a public private partnership and I'm not ready at this stage to even consider such a type of option," Piebalgs said.

CONSTRUCTION IN TWO PHASES

In a recent feasibility study, it was decided to construct the pipeline in two major stages - first to construct the complete new route from Turkish borders to Baumgarten in Austria, and second to construct further compressor stations to increase capacity.

The first construction phase, starting in 2011, will cover the planned route between Ankara and Baumgarten, corresponding to the construction of approximately 2,000 km of pipeline.