AFP: Bulgarian parliament backs Nabucco gas pipeline

Bulgaria's parliament on Tuesday formally backed an agreement to support the 4,000-km (2,500-mile) Nabucco pipeline project to bring Caspian gas to Europe, its press office said, cited by AFP.

The 7.9-billion euro ($10 billion) project is to be built by a consortium of Austria's OMV, Germany's RWE, Hungary's MOL, Romania's Transgaz, Bulgaria's Bulgargaz and Turkey's Botas.
It seeks to wean Europe from its dependency on Russian gas deliveries but has recently hit a snag.

Initial plans set the start of construction for 2013 with the first shipments of Caspian gas to Austria via Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary in 2017.

But the project, which faces stiff competition from rival pipelines including Russia's South Stream, has been seriously sidetracked by an inability to guarantee its funding and future supplies of natural gas.  MORE