VIENNA, July 25 (UPI) -- The Nabucco natural gas pipeline has some environmental and social impact assessment permits from potential host nations, an official said.
The pipeline consortium said it appointed one of Italy's largest engineering consulting companies, D'Appolonia, to make sure its environment and social impact assessments were complete and in compliance with international, national and European legislation.
As an adviser to the Nabucco consortium, D'Appolonia will work to make sure there is consistency between the consortium and member states.
Gabriele Egartner, spokeswoman for the Nabucco consortium, told the Trend news agency that it had some of the permits already in hand.
"In some countries first ESIA permits have been obtained already," she said. "The ESIA permitting phase will be completed as soon as possible."
She didn't indicate which countries granted the permits. She added that getting the ESIA permit was one of the first steps needed in getting a construction permit.
Nabucco would be used to move natural gas from Central Asia and the Middle East to European markets. The project is seen as a way to break the Russian grip on the regional energy sector.
Despite widespread political support, the project hasn't been able to land official agreements with potential gas suppliers, however.
