The Nabucco gas pipeline consortium expects construction to start in 2013, with commercial gas transport beginning four years later, a top Nabucco official said on Friday, May 6.

'We see construction start-up in 2013 and the start of commercial transport in 2017,' Reinhard Mitschek, managing director of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH told a conference call.

He also said he did not see any need to reduce the planned pipeline capacity of the project.

The Nabucco plan intends to bring gas from the Caspian region to an Austrian hub via Turkey and the Balkans.

Partners in Nabucco include Turkey's Botas, Austria's OMV, Germany's RWE, Hungarian MOL, Romania's Transgaz and Bulgarian BEH, Reuters reported.