Nabucco Chief: Partner States To Sign Agreement In 2009

(RFE/RL) -- Reinhard Mitschek, the managing director of the Nabucco gas-pipeline consortium, told RFE/RL's Turkmen Service that the consortium's member states will sign an agreement on their respective gas-supply shares at the end of 2009.

Mitschek said the Turkmen energy deal with the German company RWE, a Nabucco shareholder, is an important step for the EU-backed pipeline project.

He said engineering work on the pipeline began in April, and is supported by 200 million euros ($240 million) as part of an EU economic-stimulus package approved last month.

The project is due to be completed in 2013. The cost, originally estimated at 4.4 billion euros ($5.9 billion), was recently revised to nearly double that amount.