BUDAPEST: Hungarian oil group MOL has not approved the 2012 budget of Nabucco International Company (NIC) which is preparing Europe's planned Nabucco pipeline to ship Caspian natural gas, MOL said in a statement on Tuesday.

MOL, a partner in Nabucco, has voiced doubts over the Nabucco project several times in the past 18 months due to the uncertain costs and gas sources and concerns over the structure and management of the project, it said.

"MOL Group has indicated towards NIC shareholders, and to the Hungarian Government that it does not consider the further financing of Nabucco International Company sustainable and therefore it did not approve the 2012 annual budget of NIC," it said.

MOL added that it remained committed to cutting Europe's supply dependence on Russia, and that it believed "in the South Corridor-concept, that could eventually also include a re-considered Nabucco".

The Nabucco consortium is led by Austria's OMV and includes Germany's RWE, Hungary's MOL, Turkey's Botas, BEH of Bulgaria and Romania's Transgaz.

The 4,000 km Nabucco pipeline project is intended to transport central Asian gas through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary into Austria and western Europe.