15/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - Nabucco - RWE sells its stake to OMV. The second-largest German energy company has sold the Austrian energy group its stake of 17% in the European gas pipeline project Nabucco for an undisclosed amount, OMV announced on 14 April. Nabucco West, a shortened and less expensive version of the initial project, with reduced capacity (between 10 and 23 million cubic metres a year, compared to 31 billion cubic metres initially), will link Austria to the border between Bulgaria and Turkey over 1300 kilometres, passing through Hungary and Romania. The consortium tasked with building the gas pipeline also includes Hungary's MOL, Transgaz of Romania, Bulgargas of Bulgaria and Turkey's Botas. Nabucco is in competition for the gas field of Shah Deniz II, in Azerbaijan, with the Transadriatic project, led by the groups Statoil (Norway), Axpo (Switzerland) and E.OB (Germany). The Shah Deniz consortium will make its choice in June of this year. (EH/transl.fl)