RWE Still Supports Nabucco Pipeline

RWE has confirmed that it still supports the Nabucco pipeline project, despite remaining cautious on the requirements for that support.

Speaking in an interview with New Europe, spokeswoman Sabine Jeschke said that RWE was not considering withdrawing from the project and continued to give it its support once certain requirements were met.

"I can confirm that RWE's attitude towards the Nabucco project is unchanged, meaning important to us is that the project meets our economic requirements in terms of profitability and volumes for the Czech gas transmission system," she said.

RWE currently has a strong interest in Czech supply through its company Net4Gas, the Czech Republic's main gas pipeline operator. However, RWE is set to sell Net4Gas later this year.

Uncertainty continues to surround the future of the Nabucco project following the announcement from one of its six shareholders, MOL, that it may withdraw from the project.

Last week, Chairman of MOL Zsolt Hernadi said that his company was ready to sell its shares in the project if necessary, to emphasise its concerns over the financing of the project and its unwillingness to contribute any further financially.

So far, the project's other shareholders--OMV, Bulgarian Energy Holding, Transgaz and BOTAS--have remained supportive of the project, with OMV saying that the project will be constructed even without MOL's cooperation.

"There are other companies that want to join the consortium," chief executive of OMV Gerhard Roiss said last week.