Energy provider RWE has announced that RWE and its Austrian counterpart OMV plan to build a gas pipeline linking the Caspian Sea and Europe.

RWE said that both energy firms have launched a United Kingdom based consortium called Caspian Energy Company Limited which is to explore the comprehensive infrastructure solutions linking the vast gas resources of the Caspian region to Europe.

CEC will shortly begin a detailed analysis into gas transport infrastructure options that could provide Europe with access to natural gas from the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea. Based on the study's final results, CEC will then enter into the development, construction, ownership and operation of gas transport systems across the Caspian Sea.

The respective gas could then be fed into the existing South Caucasus Gas Pipeline or other newly built pipelines and from there on into Turkey and the Nabucco Gas Pipeline which is set to form the backbone of this Southern Gas Corridor.