The Hungarian section of the Nabucco pipeline, which crosses 384 km of Hungarian territory, has been granted the last necessary Environmental Permit. Hungary is now the first Nabucco country to successfully finish the permitting process. The next steps in Hungary are now to finalise the Front End Engineering and Design for Nabucco West and to continue the process of obtaining the necessary permits for construction.
The Nabucco gas pipeline project, promoted by the European Commission and developed by Bulgarian Energy Holding (Bulgaria), Botas (Turkey), FGSZ1 (Hungary), OMV (Austria), RWE (Germany), Transgaz (Romania) with a share of 16.67% each, aims to transport 31 bcm/year of natural gas from the Georgian/Turkish and the Iraqi/Turkish border to Baumgarten in Austria. The construction of the Nabucco West pipeline will begin as soon as a final decision is reached on gas transportation (expected in late 2012 or early 2013). Construction will take 4-5 years.