EU glued to Nabucco pipeline despite Russian rival

The European Union said on Thursday it was "glued" to an ambitious project to pipe gas from the Caspian to Europe through Turkey, as Russia and Italy moved ahead with a 10 billion euro ($14.8 billion) rival scheme.
The co-ordinator of the EU's south-east European Nabucco pipeline project, former Dutch Foreign Minister Jozias van Aartsen, said all the participating European states were fully committed to the complex scheme after wobbles earlier this year.
"All the four countries on the European side, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania are glued to the project again, and are really involved and do see the project as a priority for their countries," he told a joint news conference after talks with EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.
The EU sees the Nabucco project, skirting Russian territory, as necessary to diversify its sources of energy and reduce dependence on Russia, which now supplies a quarter of Europe's gas.
Piebalgs noted that Hungary's government and gas company, which had earlier voiced doubts, were now back on board. He also cited a request from Austrian regulators to allow preferential access to the pipeline for the companies involved in building it - an exception to EU rules that requires Brussels' approval - as further evidence that the project was on track. The Commission would study the request, he said.
The two were speaking on the day Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom and Italy's Eni agreed to form a 50/50 joint venture to operate a gas export pipeline to southern Europe known as South Stream.
The planned 30 billion cubic metres a year Russian pipeline has raised questions about whether there will be enough demand, and sufficient supply, to make Nabucco viable.
Piebalgs said there was no shortage of potential supply, apart from Azerbaijan, the first expected supplier. He cited Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, as well as Egypt, Iraq and Iran, as possible suppliers to the European pipeline.
Van Aartsen insisted Nabucco was not an anti-Russian project but said: "The European Union in the longer term, if you look 10-15 years ahead, cannot accept of course a monopoly of supply out of this region." Both men said Moscow has softened its tone against Nabucco in recent months.