U.S. lawmakers back Nabucco

BUDAPEST, Hungary, May 15 (UPI) -- Statements from top U.S. lawmakers suggest Washington is considered among the key supporters of the Nabucco gas pipeline, Hungarian officials said.

Janos Koka, the head of the Nabucco committee in the Hungarian Parliament, told the MTI news agency his talks with Washington during a three-day visit this week generated important support for the $10.7 billion Nabucco pipeline.

Koka met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who said Nabucco was a regional security issue, The Budapest Times reports.

"Energy security is essential for the national security of every country," Lugar said in a news release. "Nabucco will help safeguard the independence and prosperity of each nation involved."

Regional leaders attended a summit in Prague, Czech Republic, last week for the Southern Corridor of energy transit networks, securing Nabucco as a top priority.

Nabucco would bring natural gas from Central Asian and Middle Eastern suppliers along a route through Turkey north to European markets. Europe sees the project as the answer to its push toward energy diversification and away from dependency on Russia.