Azernews.Az

BAKU – A potential rise in the cost of the Nabucco gas pipeline will not affect implementation of the project, head of the EU delegation to Azerbaijan Roland Kobia has said.

"The work on implementing the project is underway, and a possible increase will have no impact on this process," Kobia told a news conference in Baku on Thursday.

Last week, reports said projected investment in the 7.9 billion euro pipeline had been revised up to 12-15 billion euros. The reports also said that some of the project participants disagree with the new figures and call for a review of the estimate.

"Official figures have not been disclosed yet," Kobia said. "The evaluation of various technical aspects of the Nabucco project, including its cost, was carried out several years ago. It is time to review the figures, based on the economic context of the present day."

Kobia noted that the cost of steel and labor has increased and the route for pipe-lay has somewhat changed since then.

"A decision on how much the project will cost is up to the Nabucco consortium," he added.

The Nabucco pipeline, a joint venture of Germany’s RWE AG, Vienna-based OMV AG, Budapest-based Mol Nyrt., Bulgargaz EAD, Romania’s Transgaz SA and Ankara-based Boru Hatlari ile Petrol Tasima AS, will carry up to 31 billion cubic meters a year of gas from the Caspian region and the Middle East across Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey into southeast Europe and onwards to an Austrian trading hub, bypassing Russia. A third of the project cost will be covered by its shareholders, while the rest will be funded by international lenders.

Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH previously said it would start construction in 2012 and operations in 2015, after moving the timeline several times. But the venture last Friday said it pushed back the start of construction to 2013 and start of operations to 2017.

Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iraq are potential suppliers for the Nabucco pipeline.