BP scales back plans to break Russian hold on gas supplies

The prospect of breaking Russia's stranglehold on gas supplies to the West receded yesterday as the new Nabucco pipeline was thrown into doubt.

The pipeline, with a capacity of 30bn cubic metres a year, appeared to be off the cards as BP, the anchor supplier, said it was no longer planning to use it to ship gas from its Shah Deniz Stage 2 Gas field in Azerbaijan, after concluding the project was economically unfeasible.

However, BP and joint venture partners including Germany's RWE said they were considering an alternative pipe, the Nabuccu West, with half the capacity of the original. Rather than running from twin spurs in eastern and southern Turkey to Austria, the downsized version will only run from the Turkey-Bulgaria border to Austria.