The Nabucco pipeline is to meet some 15 percent of Romania's current national gas need, Transgaz, Romania's state-owned gas pipeline company, said on Tuesday, Xinhua reported.
Romania will benefit from an annual supply of 2.58 billion cubic meters of natural gas, according to the intergovernmental accord for the Nabucco project signed on Monday in Ankara by representatives of transit countries including Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria.
The 3,300-km-long Nabucco pipeline is designed to pump gas from the Caspian region to Austria through Turkey, bypassing Russia, the largest gas supplier for Europe. The project represents a huge symbolic step toward diversifying EU energy supplies.
The project, estimated to cost around 8 billion euros (11.12 billion U.S. dollars), is developed by the Nabucco Gas Pipeline International, formed by Austria's OMV, Hungary's MOL, Romania's Transgaz, Bulgaria's Bulgargaz, Turkey's Botas and Germany's RWE.
Construction of the pipeline is scheduled to begin in 2010, and expected to complete in 2014.