EU's energy chief said Thursday that the Union would accelerate the Nabucco project, a pipeline project to pump Asian natural gas from Turkey to Europe.

EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs held talks with Turkish energy officials in capital Ankara. Piebalgs stressed Turkey's importance for the project and said that talks were going well with Turkey.

The 3,300-kilometer Nabucco project is a planned natural gas pipeline that will transport natural gas from Turkey to Austria, via Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. It will run from Erzurum in Turkey to Baumgarten an der March, a major natural gas hub in Austria.

Around 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year will be transported to Europe after the Nabucco project is completed.

Turkish energy officials said EU and Turkey could sign a transit deal by the end of this year, adding that the Union attaches great importance to the project as EU leaders do not want to be energy dependent on Russia.

The Nabucco project is also supported by the United States as it would be an alternative to natural gas supply from Russia, biggest supplier of Europe.

AA