Nabucco Consortium: 1st Pipeline Operations Still Planned For 2014

The planned Nabucco gas pipeline will be ready for operation from 2014 as previously announced, the consortium behind the project said Thursday.

"The time schedule remains unchanged. Start of construction will be ready for the first gas deliveries in 2014," the consortium, Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH, said.

The statement follows a report by Sueddeutsche Zeitung Thursday quoting European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger as saying completion of the pipeline will be delayed at least until 2018.

"This must be a misunderstanding, because we expect to reach the maximum capacity by 2018," the consortium said.

The Nabucco pipeline is expected to be 3,300 kilometers long and to transport up to 31 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe from the Caspian region, bypassing Russia and thereby reducing Europe's energy dependence on Russia.

The consortium includes Germany's RWE AG, Austria's OMV AG, Turkey's Botas, Hungary's MOL Nyrt., Romania's Transgas and Bulgaria's Bulgargas.

Consortium Web site: www.nabucco-pipeline.com

-By Flemming E. Hansen, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]