Austrian gas and pipeline group OMV is hoping to get German utility giant E.ON as a customer for its 4.6 billion euros ($5.7 billion) gas pipeline project, its chief executive told Handelsblatt. "We are in talks with E.ON Ruhrgas," Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer said in an advance copy of Monday's edition. E.ON Ruhrgas, a unit of E.ON, is Germany's top gas importer.
OMV, Hungary's MOL and three other firms are planning to build the so-called Nabucco pipeline from Turkey to Austria that could pump Iranian gas to Europe. A study group for the Nabucco project said in April the decision whether to build the pipeline should be reached by the end of this year.
The pipeline would begin operating in 2011 with a capacity of 4.5 to 13 billion cubic metres (bcm) a year, eventually reaching 25.5 to 31 bcm by 2020, according to study estimates.
The paper said OMV has targeted to secure long-term contracts with customers until the middle of 2006. Ruttenstorfer said Gaz de France and RWE were the other potential customers.
Handelsblatt reported earlier this month that delegations from Ruhrgas had already travelled to Iran and spoken to government representatives to enter the Iranian gas market.
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