Economy and Energy Minister Roumen Ovcharov asked for support for the Nabucco gas project, projects on the construction of terminals for liquefied natural gas and establishment of alternative oil transiting lines. He made this appeal at a regular meeting of the EU Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council held in Luxembourg on June 8th.

Negotiations are currently under way with eight major European companies that have declared interest in participation in the Nabucco gas pipeline project. Agreement will probably be reached with up to two companies in view of accelerating the implementation of the project, while at the same time the number of participating companies will not become too large.

Partners on this project include gas companies Botas of Turkey, Bulgargaz of Bulgaria, Transgaz of Romania, MOL of Hungary and OMV Gas of Austria, which are all joined in the consortium Nabucco for the construction of this transcontinental gas pipeline from the Caspian region and the Middle East to Central and Western Europe.  Bulgargas also holds a stake in the Nabucco pipeline project.
Bulgaria's economy and energy minister Rumen Ovcharov and Austria's minister of economics and labour Martin Bartenstein discussed (May 11th) the implementation of the Nabucco gas pipeline project in the context of being the sole initiative, which proves that the EU has the potential to pursue a common energy policy. A meeting of the energy ministries of Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria expectedly will be held in Vienna on June 26, 2006.

Nabucco Gas Pipeline International Ltd has assumed the responsibility for the development of the financial concept of the project, the coordination of the next phases of the implementation of the project and the establishment of Nabucco companies in Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria, the countries that participate in the project. The commitments of each of the five companies are expected to be discussed at the forthcoming Vienna meeting. The completion of the project is important as oil meets 41% of the demand for energy in Europe at present. Natural gas and coals cover 22% and 16% of the demand, respectively. Nuclear energy and energy from renewable sources account for 15% and 6%, respectively. The EU imports 76% of the oil consumed in at present in Europe and the figure is expected to reach 90% by 2020. Therefore Europe strives to diversify its supplies of oil and natural gas.

The phases of project implementation provide for its development from 2006 to 2008, construction between 2008 and 2011 and putting it into operation as of 2011.