Hungary threw its weight behind the EU's Nabucco gas pipeline on Tuesday, while at the same time signalling its support for Russia's South Stream project, a potential rival.

"Hungary is interested in the building of both Nabucco and South Stream," said Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom after meeting his Bulgarian counterpart Georgy Parvanov in Sofia. "We hope that South Stream will branch off into our territory."

Both Bulgaria's Bulgargaz and Hungary's MOL Nyrt are currently shareholders in Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH, the project company in charge of planning the 5 billion eur project.

Romania's Tranzgaz and Turkey's Botas are also partners in the 3,300-kilometer pipeline, which would bring gas from the Caspian region via Turkey to Europe from 2012. The project is led by Austria's OMV AG.

South Stream is a potentially conflicting project involving a 10 billion eur pipeline being built by Russian gas giant Gazprom and ENI of Italy.

South Stream will cross the Black Sea into Bulgaria and then split into two arms, one going northwest to Austria and the other south to Greece and then west to southern Italy. The pipeline should be operational by 2013.

Copyright 2008 AFX News Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Related Project
Nabucco Gas Pipeline
Facility Type: Pipeline Owner: Nabucco Gas Pipeline International Gmbh
Scope: New Construction Location: Middle East and Central Asia to Europe Turkey