Financial Times: RWE set to quit Nabucco gas pipeline

RWE, the German utility, is in talks to quit the Nabucco gas pipeline project it long championed, a move that would be a further blow to a scheme that once was billed as key to ending western Europe’s dependence on Russian gas.

People familiar with the project said the Essen-based company was in talks with OMV, the Austrian oil and gas company, about the purchase of the German group’s 16.7 per cent stake in the venture. Should negotiations continue at their recent pace, the Financial Times was told, an announcement could come as early as this week.

While RWE and OMV declined to comment, Germany’s second largest utility had said in May that it was reviewing its role in Nabucco, which was conceived as far back as 2002 to carry gas from the Caspian basin, rivalling Russian gas supplies.  MORE