The Project Support Agreements for the Nabucco pipeline are finalized and will be signed by the Nabucco companies and the responsible ministries of the five transit countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Turkey), the Nabucco Consortium announced.

The official signing event will take place in Kayseri, Turkey, on June 8, 2011, Nabucco Gas Pipeline International said in a statement Wednesday, June 1.

"The Project Support Agreements represent a significant step in the advanced development stage of the Nabucco Pipeline. Together with the Intergovernmental Agreement, the Project Support Agreements are a necessary prerequisites for a successful financing of the project," Nabucco Managing Director Reinhard Mitschek said.

The main elements of the PSA are the affirmation of an advantageous regulatory transit regime under EU and Turkish energy law, the protection of the Nabucco pipeline from potential discriminatory law changes, and support for legislative and administrative actions to further implementation of the project. The PSA also marks a commitment of the government to support the project.

Nabucco is supposed to become "the new gas bridge from Asia to Europe." It will directly connect the world's richest gas regions - the Caspian region and the Middle East, to the European consumer markets. The pipeline will link the Eastern border of Turkey, to Baumgarten in Austria - one of the most important gas turntables in Central Europe - via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, novinite.com reported.