It seems like the Nabucco pipeline project has seven lives – every time we think it’s “dead” because of a competing Russia-backed project, it finds new life. The latest surge of optimism comes from the German company RWE, which the Financial Times is reporting has become the sixth major company to sign on to the project, which aims to bring natural gas from the Caspian region along a route free of Gazprom’s control to Europe. Now if only they could find more gas outside of Azerbaijan to fill it…. From FT:

German group to back Caspian gas pipeline By Ed Crooks in London RWE, one of Germany’s biggest energy companies, is to become the sixth company backing the proposed Nabucco pipeline to bring gas from the Caspian region to Europe, bolstering hopes for the troubled plan. RWE is expected to be formally announced as a member of the consortium at a ceremony in Vienna next week, joining the five member companies from Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. RWE yesterday would not confirm the reports, saying only that it had expressed its interest in Nabucco and was “very happy about these positive signals”.