Nabucco gas pipeline ‘inevitable’

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The Nabucco pipeline project, which would link Caspian and Middle-Eastern gas suppliers to Europe, bypassing Russia, took a major step forward when five countries agreed on gas transit terms.

The deal in Ankara, the Turkish capital, was signed by the five Nabucco member countries after months of delay amid concerns that Moscow was buying up crucial central Asian gas supplies as Europe hesitated in presenting a unified front on energy.
The deal will allow the Nabucco consortium, led by the Austrian energy group OMV, to proceed with crucial negotiations for gas supplies for the €7.9 billion (Dh40.37bn) project.

Despite widespread doubts about Nabucco’s viability, the European Commission president, Jose Barroso, said the project’s completion was now “inevitable rather than just probable” and “of crucial importance for EU’s and Turkey’s energy security”.
Recep Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, said at yesterday’s signing ceremony: “The Nabucco project is being labelled a pipe dream. This project will be a success story that will prove the doubters wrong.”