EU COUNTRIES and Turkey yesterday signed a transit deal for the Nabucco gas pipeline, aimed at reducing Europe’s energy dependence on Russia.

The agreement is a significant political step which supporters say will provide momentum to the project.

Transit countries Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria signed the accord for the €7.9 billion EU- and US-backed scheme, which aims to supply Europe with gas from the Caspian and Middle East.

The agreement irons out details over transit and tax issues for nations hosting the pipeline.

The project has been marred by political infighting and is still dogged by questions over supply and financing.

Progress of a rival Russian initiative has also added doubts to the feasibility of Nabucco, which has been unable to find sufficient gas to put through the pipeline.

But yesterday backers sought to dispel such doubts.

“We are starting to confound the sceptics. Negotiations once seemed irrevocably blocked, but now we have an agreement and I believe this pipeline is inevitable, not impossible,” European Commission president José Manuel Barroso said.

The EU has supported the project as a way of reducing its reliance on Russian gas.

A dispute over prices and debt between Moscow and Kiev last winter led to Russia cutting supplies into Ukraine, including those destined for Europe.

No supply deals have yet been signed by Nabucco, which plans to pump 31 billion cubic metres of natural gas to Europe by 2014.

But the Vienna-based consortium is looking at Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan as sources for gas. – (Reuters)