Bulgaria, Hungary push Nabucco gas pipeline project

Bulgarian Economy Minister Petar Dimitrov told a joint news conference in Sofia with Hungary’s Nabucco gas pipeline coordinator Mihaly Bayer that the two countries were concerned the project was in danger of getting bogged down.

"We believe there has been some slowing down of activities on the project and so we’ve agreed to launch a political effort to speed it up," Dimitrov said.

The economic benefits of Nabucco were obvious, but a number of political deficiencies needed to be overcome, he said.

More support was needed from the consumer countries, but governments and the companies making up the Nabucco consortium needed intensify their efforts to ensure that there was sufficient gas to feed the pipeline, Dimitrov said.

The minister named Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Iraq and Egypt as possible suppliers of gas for the project.

For his part, Bayer said the Bulgaria and Hungary were keen to that the necessary legal framework needed to operate Nabucco was drawn up quickly.

Nabucco’s shareholders are OMV of Austria, MOL of Hungary, Transgaz of Romania, Bulgargaz of Bulgaria, Botas of Turkey and RWE of Germany. They have agreed to build the 3,300 kilometers (2,050 miles) pipeline to channel gas from the Caspian basin via Turkey and the Balkan states to Austria.

The pipeline, which will transport 31 billion cubic meters of gas, is supported by the European Union as a way of reducing the bloc’s reliance on Russian supplies by feeding the energy-hungry EU with gas from the Middle East and Asia.

Construction is scheduled to begin in 2009, with the completion date set for 2013.

But the estimated cost of the project has recently shot up to 7.9 billion euros ($12.5 billion), compared with a previous forecast of $5 billion euros according to a recent statement of the Austria-based Nabucco Gas Pipeline International company that will build and operate it.

The altered forecast mainly reflected accelerating material and service costs, the company said.