Brussels, 01/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - On 8 June, the Turkish city of Kayzeri will play host to the first ministerial of transit countries involved in the future pan-European Nabucco gas pipeline project: Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey. The energy companies involved in the project - ÖMV from Austria, Bulgargaz from Bulgaria, Hungary's MOL, Romania's Transgaz, Turkey's Botas and RWE from Germany, each with a 16.67% share - will sign agreements on 8 June supporting the project, necessary arrangements for its implementation, alongside the intergovernmental agreement signed in July 2009 (EUROPE 9941-9942). Project support agreements (PSA) will set out the practical aspects and standards for construction and long-term pipeline operations in each of the stakeholder countries. The date for the Nabucco product becoming operational has been pushed back to 2017, two years later than the date originally planned. Project construction has also been postponed by a year, to 2013. The project investment plan is expected to be revised to take into account a 20% extension in the gas pipeline, which will now be 3,500 kilometres long, with the addition of a connection to Iraq. Nabucco will have a total capacity of 31 billion m3 and will link Turkey to Austria channelling gas from the Caspian region, Central Asia and Iraq to the European market. (E.H./transl.fl)