UPI: Central European presidents back Nabucco West over TAP rival

The presidents of Hungary, Austria, Romania and Bulgaria have urged Azerbaijan to support the proposed Nabucco West natural gas pipeline over a rival project.

Austrian President Heinz Fischer told reporters at a Central European summit in Slovakia Thursday he and his counterparts had sent a letter to Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev touting their preference for Nabucco West over the rival Trans-Adriatic pipeline.

A decision by the consortium controlling the Caspian Sea gas fields on which pipeline would transport the gas from Azerbaijan to Europe is expected by the end of the month.

The Nabucco proposal would pass through Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria on its way from the Turkish border to a terminus in Austria. The TAP project, meanwhile, would go through Greece and Albania before crossing under the Adriatic Sea to Italy.  MORE