Nabucco vs. South Stream

PRAGUE, Czech Republic, April 30 (UPI) -- The Czech EU presidency plans to extend an invitation to parties to the Nabucco gas pipeline to a regional summit as Sofia scrambles for a rival project.

Prague hosts a May 8 summit for the so-called Southern Corridor of natural gas transit networks that focuses on the $10.7 billion Nabucco pipeline.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso will round up the EU troika representation at the meeting, while Iraq, Egypt and Uzbekistan will participate at the observer level, reports the PanArmenian news network.

Nabucco is seen as a major push toward European efforts to ease energy dependency on Russia. The pipeline would bring natural gas from Central Asian and Middle Eastern suppliers, and possibly Iran, to European markets.

The Prague summit follows a regional summit that kicked off Friday in Sofia that focused on a rival project, South Stream, that would bring Russian gas supplies to Europe.

South Stream would travel along a route through southeastern Europe. Bulgaria would be a host to both projects, prompting Sofia to lobby aggressively for concessions in negotiations with its energy partners.