EU natural gas pipeline project gets first order

BERLIN: After months of delays and setbacks, Nabucco, the European Union’s ambitious natural gas pipeline project, received its first supply order, the EU said Wednesday.

The order is to ship gas from Azerbaijan for sale to Bulgaria. The pipeline, planned to open in 2013, was designed to reduce European dependence on Russian natural gas.

Under the agreement, Bulgaria has agreed to buy more than one billion cubic meters, or 35 billion cubic feet, of natural gas a year from Azerbaijan, which is rich in energy resources and crucial for supplying Nabucco. That amount represents about 12 percent of Nabucco’s capacity in its first phase and 18 percent of Bulgaria’s needs.

“This is good news,” said a European Commission official who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on the record. “Until now, Nabucco had not been going so well.”

The planned 3,300 kilometer, or 2,050 mile, pipeline has been beset with difficulties and is two years behind schedule. The consortium building it announced last week that Nabucco’s development cost would increase by nearly 60 percent, to