November 21, 2008

Mr Putin scorns rival Nabucco pipeline project

It is reported that Putin president of Russia has scorned an EU and US backed project to build a natural gas pipeline from the Caspian Sea region to Europe, saying partners on its own project, like Hungary, need only take out a calculator to conclude Russia's plans are more profitable.

Mr Putin was speaking ahead of a signing ceremony with Mr Ferenc Gyurcsany PM of Hungary at Kremlin said that it will add Budapest's support to Moscow's South Stream gas pipeline which has been competing with the EU-backed Nabucco project.

He said "The task of our partners is simple, take a calculator and look at the figures. It is apparent that the project we propose can be realized and is backed with resources. If someone wants to dig up the soil to bury pipes there, we don't mind."

Nabucco, which would carry natural gas from the Caspian region and the Middle East to central and Western Europe, is still in its initial planning phases. It was devised as a means to diversify gas supplies and reduce energy dependence on Russia. The project aims to deliver 30 billion cubic meters of gas from Central Asia and the Caspian region to Europe through a 3,300 kilometer pipeline from Turkey through Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary to Austria.