KAYSERI, Turkey, June 8 (UPI) -- The planned Nabucco natural gas pipeline will be the preferred option to transport Caspian gas supplies to Europe, an official said at a ceremony in Turkey.
Delegates from the five transit countries -- Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey – met Wednesday in Kayseri, Turkey, with Nabucco officials to sign project support agreements.
The PSAs were described by the Nabucco consortium as the affirmation of an advantageous regulatory transit regime under European and Turkish laws, protection against any discriminatory changes in said laws and support for legislative and administrative actions for the implementation of the project.
Werner Auli, chairman of the steering committee for the pipeline, said in a statement from Turkey that the PSA agreements represent a strong commitment to the project.
"Demand for gas in Europe is expected to rise considerably in the next decade and the Nabucco pipeline will be the preferred transportation method for gas suppliers in the Caspian region," he said in a statement. "The negotiations with suppliers are going well and the interest in Nabucco is getting stronger every day."
Nabucco is part of the so-called Southern Corridor of transit networks for Europe. It's seen as a rival to Russia's planned South Stream. European officials the Russian option isn't a top priority, however.
The project consortium announced in May that construction was delayed by one year to 2013 and gas deliveries weren't expected until 2017 because of supplier timelines.
