The European Investment Bank (EIB) has been asked by the Nabucco pipeline consortium to help finance the project but the bank needs more information before making a decision, the bank's chairman said on Monday.

"We have been approached by the Nabucco partners and have been asked to finance a substantial share of the project," EIB Chairman Philippe Maystadt told a news conference in Budapest.

"In principle we're ready, but of course we'll only finance if it's viable so we'll need more information to see if this project would meet the criteria for financing," Maystadt added.

Due to span 3,300 km (2,051 miles) and meet 5 percent of Europe's gas needs, Nabucco will bring 31 billion cubic meters of Caspian or Middle Eastern gas annually from Turkey to an Austrian gas hub via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary.

A row between Russia and Ukraine that disrupted gas supplies to Europe this month has strengthened calls for diversifying energy supplies and supply routes.

But the project lacks enough committed sources of energy to give it a full go-ahead, and there are concerns whether Central Asia has enough gas to fill the pipelines.

Hungary will host a Nabucco conference on Tuesday which will be attended by European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs as well as government and corporate officials from Europe and Central Asia.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso was scheduled to attend but cancelled late last week.

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev who will also attend the conference told the local news agency MTI participants should agree on a roadmap for the Nabucco project in Budapest.

He was cited as saying on Monday Azerbaijan was committed to the project, but several important questions such as transit contracts and financing still need to be cleared before it makes a final decision.

Analysts say the project is in a Catch 22. Banks are not willing to finance until input gas is secured and its long-term future is secured while potential input nations are reluctant to commit to supplying gas until they are convinced the infrastructure will be in place.

Consortium members, who include Austria's OMV, MOL of Hungary, Romania's Transgaz, Bulgargaz, Turkey's Botas and RWE of Germany have said the European Union should provide either prefinancing or guarantees to convince commercial banks and suppliers the project is viable.

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