Is it time to start a 24/7 Nabucco watch? The once-doomed natural gas pipeline project, designed to bring supply from the Caspian region directly to Europe, has recently gotten some positive nudges in the right direction – but the drama is far from over. Today Nabucco got a positive ruling from the EU exempting Austria from competition rules regarding third party access to a section of the pipeline. Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said: “The Commission decision on Nabucco shows our support for this project, which will boost Europe’s efforts to diversify our supply sources and our gas supply routes. (…) The project is important not only for the countries involved but will also contribute to strengthening competition and promoting security in gas supply for the European Union as a whole.” But the biggest news came last week with German company RWE signing on to the project, providing an unexpected boon to the economic viability of the proposal.