Germany also signals Nabucco walkout

BERLIN - Agence France-Presse

German power company RWE said yesterday it might abandon the Nabucco gas pipeline project, the latest to consider pulling out of the Austria-Turkey pipeline project aimed at cutting Europe’s dependence on Russian energy.

“We are looking at the project to see if our commercial and strategic goals are still respected,” an RWE spokeswoman told Agence France-Presse.

In late April, the Hungarian oil group MOL said it wanted to sell its share in the project and would stop financing because of serious concerns related to management and structure, as well as gas sources.
An agreement was signed in October 2002 between MOL, Austria’s OMV, Bulgaria’s Bulgargaz, Romania’s Transgaz, Botaş of Turkey and RWE.

The 3,900-kilometer pipeline is supposed to pump 31 billion cubic meters of gas per year from the Caspian Sea to Austria via Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, starting in late 2017.