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The Nabucco consortium continues financing development work within the project, an official representative in Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH told the Baku-based Trend news agency.

"We continue to finance ongoing development work under the project, including in the areas of engineering, as well as commercial and financial structuring of the project," the official wrote in an e-mail.

The Nabucco project's short-cut version, Nabucco West, envisages construction of a pipeline from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Austria. Gas to be produced during the second phase of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas field development is considered as the main source for the project. The project's shareholders are Bulgarian Energy Holding, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas, Austrian OMV, German RWE and Hungary's FGSZ.

Earlier Bloomberg reported quoting a Transgaz official that Nabucco's board of directors plans to decide on the capital increase, aimed at securing the financing needed to go ahead with the project. According to the source, the Hungarian MOL, a 100-percent owner of FGSZ, decided to stop injecting funds into the pipeline, however, the company may reconsider its position on the planned capital increase following the Shah Deniz consortium's decision.

In June, the Shah Deniz consortium selected Nabucco West as the single pipeline option for the potential export of Shah Deniz Phase 2 gas to Central Europe. Earlier this year, the consortium made Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) a priority route for the exports of Azerbaijani gas to Italy in southern Europe. The final decision on a pipeline export route is expected in 2013.

The official in Nabucco Gas Pipeline International said the planned capital raise is not an unusual step and is part of the financing structure of the Nabucco project.

Earlier Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH spokesman, Christian Dolezal, told Trend that Nabucco West can reach its financial close very soon, adding that financial institutions are ready to fund the project.

The Nabucco West project's debt to equity ratio is set to be 70:30, which means Nabucco's shareholders will invest 30 percent of total cost of the project, while 70 percent will be covered on account of loans.