* The project could lose Germany's participation

* Officially, the Nabucco consortium never talked about the exit of RWE

* Germany and Hungary reaping a lot of benefits from Russian pipelines Nord Stream and South Stream

German group RWE is about to leave the Nabucco consortium and intends to sell its stake of 16.1% in the project company to OMV, according to "Focus", which quotes sources in the industry. The deal will take place by the end of the year, the quoted sources also estimate.

Nabucco spokesman, Christian Dolezal, said: "We can't comment on the structure of the shareholders while the Board of Directors of Nabucco has not reached a decision, and we thank you for your understanding in that matter. The Nabucco Consortium is making important progresses in the negotiations with the Shah Deniz II Consortium concerning the Cooperation Agreement. This will lead to the further consolidation of the Nabucco project".

RWE, the second largest utility group in Germany, has announced in May, that it is reviewing its strategy for the Nabucco pipeline, which is designed to bring in gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe, through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria.

Also in spring, Hungarian company MOL announced that it does not have the necessary funds to participate in the share capital increase of the Nabucco project company. At the time, it was also rumored that MOL would leave the project, as Hungary strongly supported Russia's competing project - South Stream. MOL is still a shareholder of Nabucco, and the rest of the shareholders (Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Austria and Germany) would cover equal parts of the amount pertaining to the share capital increase.

Sources from the energy market claim that Germany and Hungary benefit greatly from the Russian gas which Gazprom brings in at a good price through Nord Stream. Th