The decision on whether the European Union-backed Nabucco Pipeline goes ahead will be made by the market this summer, when transport contracts are put up for sale, a top-executive of the pipeline project's Austrian partner, OMV AG (OMV.VI), said Wednesday.

"The market will decide whether Nabucco is commercially viable, no-one else. We will only push forward with the project if Nabucco sells enough 20-year transport contracts in the open season," OMV management board member and head of the company's gas division, Werner Auli said, speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the annual European Gas Conference in Vienna.

Auli said the open season, which is a tendering process during which gas traders can buy transport capacity in the planned pipeline, will commence in July this year and end in October.

"We still have a good indication that there is plenty of demand in the market," Auli said.

The final investment decision should be made toward the year-end, Auli said.

The 3,300 kilometers long pipeline, planned for completion in 2015, will transport gas from the Caspian region to Europe, surpassing Russia on the way.

The six partners behind the project are OMV, Bulgaria's Bulgargaz, Romania's Transgaz, Turkey's Botas, Hungary's MOL Nyrt. (MOL.BU) and Germany's RWE AG (RWE.XE).

The pipeline will start with a capacity of 8 to 10 billion cubic meters of gas annually, and by final completion it should reach 31 bcm.

Auli said he considers the more than two-year-old EUR7.9 billion price estimate for the pipeline is "still realistic".

Company Web site: www.omv.com

-By Flemming E. Hansen, Dow Jones Newswires; +43 1 513 69 22 10; flemming.hansen@dowjones.com
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