Azernews.Az

ANKARA – The five countries to be crossed by the Nabucco gas pipeline will throw their weight behind the European Union-backed project on June 6 by signing agreements with the pipeline consortium, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz was quoted by CNN Turk TV channel as saying.

He said the Nabucco Project Support Agreements will be signed by relevant ministries of the transit countries - Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey – with Nabucco Gas Pipeline International in the Turkish town of Kayseri.

According to Yildiz, Turkey has been ready to sign the agreements since last year, but the signing has been postponed on a request from Hungary due to the change of power in the country.

Nabucco communications expert Gabriele Egartner said the agreements "constitute an important support of the states vis-a-vis the project" in addition to the intergovernmental agreement on the Nabucco project.

"The Project Support Agreements set out the practical aspects and standards for the construction and for the long term operation of the pipeline in the respective countries," she said.

Minister Yildiz said the pipeline consortium will work to receive "a specific reply" from potential supplier Azerbaijan on the country’s participation in the project.

"If Azerbaijan’s response is negative, we will shift to contacts with Turkmenistan, Iraq and Iran. This project is of great importance both for us and for Europe. Therefore, we cannot waste time and will resort to all options available to implement Nabucco."

Nabucco project is designed to transport gas from the Caspian region and the Middle East to the EU countries. The pipeline’s maximum capacity will hit 31 billion cubic meters per year. Construction is planned to start in 2013 and first supplies to begin in 2017. Reports say projected investment in the 7.9 billion euro pipeline had been revised up to 12-15 billion euros.

The project's participants include the Austrian OMV, Hungarian MOL, Bulgarian Bulgargaz, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas and German RWE.