EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs and the energy ministers of the states involved agreed Monday (June 26) to accelerate commercial, regulatory and legal work on the Nabucco gas pipeline project, the commission said, quoted by AFX. The agreement was signed today at the end of a ministerial conference on Nabucco in Vienna by ministers from Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.

Gas is essential to the European economy. The European Commission is actively guiding investments into transmission and is hoping to assist in overcoming the technical and commercial issues involved in bringing gas through many jurisdictions to the EU,' Commissioner Piebalgs said.

The Nabucco project is worth 5,800 million euro and is targeted at the construction of a pipeline that will carry Iranian gas from the Caspian Sea to the European Union. The pipeline will pass through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria. Five companies - Turkish Botas, Bulgarian Bulgargaz, Romanian Transgaz, Hungarian Mol and Austrian OMV Gas established a joint venture for the construction of the pipeline. By 2025 some 10-15 per cent of the gas supplies for the EU are expected to come from Nabucco. The final decision for launch of construction works is expected in 2007 and the completion of the project is set in 2011.