14/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - Cost of Nabucco project revised significantly upward. The pan-European Nabucco gas pipeline project, linking Austria and Turkey, to carry gas from the Caspian Region, Central Asia and Iraq to the EU, could cost much more than the €7.9 billion originally projected. Calling for “full steam ahead” on the project in order to ensure the EU's supply, Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger, speaking at a conference in Bonn on Thursday 13 October, is quoted by Reuters as putting the cost of Nabucco at between €10 and €14 billion. In May of this year, the head of the Nabucco consortium, Reinhard Mitschek, spoke of reviewing the project's investment plan to take account of the 20% extension of the pipeline, with the addition of a connection to Iraq. The ÖMV Group (Austria), which is part of the consortium along with energy companies Bulgargas (Bulgaria), MOL (Hungary), Transgaz (Romania), Botas (Turkey) and TWE (Germany), said earlier this week that gas would not begin to flow until 2018. (EH/transl.rt)