Reuters: Russian gas pipeline could doom Europe's Nabucco plan
Europe's grand plan for a gas pipeline from the Caspian Sea that would make its eastern states less reliant on Russia may have been fatally undermined by Russia's even bigger project.
As Azerbaijan nears a decision on which pipeline to choose for its future exports, the Nabucco plan that was long the European Union favourite could lose out to the more modest Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) across Greece to southern Italy.
In a complex equation based on politics, TAP is in the ascendancy over the Nabucco pipeline to Austria in the face of Russia's $39 bn South Stream plan.
"The question is: 'Is Nabucco viable if South Stream is built?'" said Andrew Neff, Moscow-based principal energy analyst with research firm IHS. MORE