Putin revives Nabucco pipeline: Russian President Vladimir Putin last week confirmed that Moscow intends to directly compete with Azerbaijan over gas exports to Europe by reviving The Nabucco-West Turkey–Austria gas pipeline. The original idea behind the Nabucco project was to lay a 3,900 natural gas pipeline that would run from Erzurum in Turkey through Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, to Baumgarten an der March in Austria. Ironically, its aim was to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian energy by giving EU country’s access oil and gas from Iraq and the Shah Deniz field in Azerbaijan’s section of the Caspian Sea. The project was abandoned last year in favour of theT rans Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP). TREND