Nabucco delays upset Turkey's PM

ISTANBUL, Turkey, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- Lingering delays in the planning for the Nabucco natural gas pipeline are blows to prospects for the project, the Turkish prime minister said in Istanbul.

Christian Dolezal, a spokesman for the Nabucco pipeline consortium, in early September said there was enough natural gas in Iraq and Azerbaijan to have the project on stream by 2015.

Europe aims to break the Russian grip on the European energy sector through the so-called Southern Corridor of transit networks that includes the Nabucco pipeline.

Dolezal in his remarks said he was "confident" there were enough resources for the project. Despite political support for Nabucco, the project lacks firm commitments from potential gas suppliers, however.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told an audience at the Atlantic Council's Black Sea energy conference in Istanbul that his country was ready to go on the pipeline.

"We say we are ready for everything but those playing the coordination role have not yet come up with serious action," Turkey's daily newspaper Hurriyet quoted the prime minister as saying.

He said continued talks about gas supplies and transit routes were empty unless they were backed by concrete action.

"Each day that passes is to the disadvantage of the project," he said.