maintenance of the pipeline in their respective countries. RWE left the project and on 1 March 2013 OMV took over all of RWE's shares. On 28 May 2013, it was announced that GDF Suez, a French utilities provider, agreed to buy a 9% stake from OMV. Alternative projects The main competitor for the original project was South Stream. In 2006, Gazprom proposed an alternative project, in competition with the Nabucco pipeline, that would involve constructing a second section of the Blue Stream pipeline beneath the Black Sea to Turkey, and extending this up through Bulgaria and Serbia to western Hungary. In 2007, instead the South Stream project through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia to Austria and Italy was proposed. On 10 March 2010, CEO of Eni, a partner in South Stream, Paolo Scaroni proposed to merge Nabucco and South Stream projects to "reduce investments, operational costs and increase overall returns". This proposal was rejected by energy minister of Russia Sergei Shmatko saying that "South Stream is more competitive than Nabucco" and that "Nabucco and South Stream are far from being competitors". According to Nobuo Tanaka, former executive director of the International Energy Agency, the Nabucco pipeline would be more effective in increasing Europe's energy security than the South Stream project as it would increase the number of gas suppliers. Even more important competitor became TANAP which would follow the Nabucco's original route in Turkey. Therefore, Nabucco consortium modified the project and sees the modified Nabucco-West as a prolongation of TANAP into Central Europe. Nabucco West competed with the Trans Adriatic Pipeline and the Interconnector Turkey–Greece–Italy projects. Also liquefied natural gas was seen as competitor to Nabucco and to pipeline projects in general. Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary are developing Azerbaijan–Georgia–Romania Interconnector project, which is proposed to transport Azerbaijani gas to Europe in form of LNG. Increasing availability of LNG from large gas-producing countries in the Middle-East and Africa stresses the economic viability of pipelines. Controversial aspects Economic and political aspects The Nabucco pipeline will supply only a limited number of countries in South-East and Central Europe. In 2013, it was confirmed by Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev that the pipeline would transport gas to a minimum of 16 European countries including the gas hub in Baumgarten, Austria. The project has been criticized as uneconomic because there is no guarantee that there will be sufficient gas supplies to make it profitable. The