INTERVIEW-Nabucco mulls 7th partner with gas supplies

By Karin Strohecker

VIENNA, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The Nabucco consortium is mulling taking on a seventh partner with access to gas supplies after a deal with a sixth one is set to be finalised early February, the consortium's Managing Director Reinhard Mitschek told Reuters.

The 5 billion euro ($7.3 billion) project -- designed to pump gas from the Caspian via Turkey and the Balkans to Austria through 3,300 km (2,051 miles) of pipelines -- is a key plank in the European Union's plans to ease dependence on Russian gas.

Yet the project, owned by five firms based in the planned pipelines' transit countries, has been slammed for delays, including the selection of a sixth partner, widely expected to be Germany's RWE (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research).

"The shareholders are open for a seventh one if it will add value to the project," said Mitschek, who declined to confirm who would be the sixth partner.

The selection of a seventh operative partner would follow the same criteria as for the sixth one: having access to gas supplies or a customer base, and sound finances.

"When I look at our financial strength and at our customer base, I think we are well positioned, and gas supplies would not be an insignificant contribution," said Mitschek, declining to comment on who could join the consortium made up of Austria's OMV (OMVV.VI: Quote, Profile, Research), Hungary's MOL MOLB.BU, Turkey's Botas, Bulgaria's Bulgargaz and Romania's Transgaz.

Analysts say uncertainty about central Asian gas supplies have emerged as the largest threat to the Nabucco project following a month-long stand-off between Turkmenistan and Iran.

Turkmenistan, along with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Egypt and even Iraq have all been mentioned as possible suppliers to the 31 billion cubic metre (bcm) pipeline.