The Nabucco natural gas pipeline to Europe will be ready in 2018 at the earliest, four years later than originally planned, European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
Chances that a decision for building the pipeline will be taken in 2010 are “at about 65 percent,” Sueddeutsche cited Oettinger as saying. “It will probably be 2018″ before gas can be delivered through the project,” he said.
The planned 3,000-kilometer (1,800-mile) pipeline aims to diversify gas supplies by bringing Caspian and Middle East fuel to Austria through Turkey. The venture, led by Vienna-based OMV AG, is vying with Asian and Russian projects for access to Azeri, Turkmen, Iranian and Iraqi gas, Bloomberg reported.
