Baku News

20 September 2007 - Upstream OnLine - Austria has signed a memorandum of understanding with Azerbaijan to start talks about possible gas supplies to the planned Nabucco pipeline, Austrian producer OMV said today. Under the deal, signed by Austrian Economy Minister Martin Bartenstein and Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natik Aliyev in Baku today, OMV and state oil company Socar will begin talks Nabucco, OMV said in a statement. OMV leads the 3300 kilometre, €4.6 billion ($6.43 billion) pipeline project aimed at carrying Caspian and Middle Eastern gas to Europe to reduce its dependency on Russian supplies. Aliyev had told a conference in Budapest last week that Azerbaijan could also supply gas to a Gazprom-sponsored alternative pipeline called South Stream.