Nicosia, Feb 16 (ANI): Germany's RWE Gas Midstream recently became the sixth strategic partner in one of the most important gas infrastructure projects in Europe - the 3,300 km-long Nabucco Gas Pipeline.

Nabucco will make new gas deposits in the Caspian region available to European countries.

The pipeline is expected to transport 31 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary to Baumgarten near Vienna and from there to other European markets.

The agreement was signed in Vienna, by Stefan Judisch, Chief Executive Officer of RWE Gas Midstream, and Werner Auli, Executive Board Member of Austria's OMV, the company which is the leader of the Nabucco consortium, and representatives of the other four partners.

The consortium now consists of six partners, each holding 16.67 per cent stake in the project. They are OMV (Austria), MOL (Hungary), Bulgargaz (Bulgaria), Transgaz (Romania), Botas (Turkey) and RWE (Germany). RWE serves more than 10 million gas customers in South-Eastern, Central and North-Western Europe.

Speaking at the signing ceremony Stefan Judisch, said: "For RWE, this pipeline project is an important cornerstone in our growth strategy for natural gas. We are convinced that Nabucco will increase Europe's security and supply for natural gas." (ANI)